Stuivekenskerke

Stuivekenskerke is a polder village on the Yser in the Belgian province of West Flanders . It is since 1977 a district of the town of Dixmude . Stuivekenskerke was an independent municipality until the end of 1970 and after that a sub-municipality of Pervijze (between 1971 and 1976). Stuivekenskerke has an area of ​​7.34 km² and had 160 inhabitants in 2007. 
History.
In Roman times , the area was in a mudflats and salt marshes , where human activity was already present. After sea breakthroughs in the 4th century and gradual flooding of the coastal area, the habitation disappears.
The name of the village is said to come from the Germanic Stuvinas kirika , which stands for "church of Stuvin". The suffix -kerke or -kapelle that is mentioned in the name here and also in some other villages in the area, indicates that these are younger settlements, which only arose around the 12th century when the Middle Country Polders were diked in and were cultivated. brought. This is where the initiative to found a church of a certain Stuvin or Stuve would have come, and like some other villages, the name of this local landowner was given to the parish. An old mention of the place dates only from 1219, where it is stated: "parish of the Stuvinskerke in loco qui Vatha Dicitur" (the parish of Stuvinskerke on the place called Vate). The Latin Vatha refers to a mudflats or shallow place through the Yser. Today the hamlet of Tervate still exists . Only later was a diminutive form used by Stuve or Stuvin. A first found mention as Stuvekinskerke only goes back to 1468. The village was two kilometers south of the current village center. The Stuivekenskerke parish, to the west of the Yser, originated from the Vladslo parish , which was to the east of the Yser. Like Vladslo and the other parishes east of the river, Stuivekenskerke belonged to the diocese of Tournai until 1559 , then to the diocese of Bruges . Ghent's St. Peter's Abbey had patronage rights over these parishes. The village differed in this from the neighboring villages, which first belonged to the diocese of Terwaan and then to the diocese of Ypres .
During the ancien regime belonged territory at the administrative level in part to the South Vierschaar of castellany Furnes. Another part fell and belonged to the glory "'t Vrije van Lille".
In 1161, the Norbertines of Vicoigne became the owners of a sheepfold in the area. This settlement would become a monastic domain.
In the vicinity of Tervate and the village, some small fortresses were built by the Spaniards at the end of the 16th century, as a defense line against looting by reformists from Ostend . After the capture of the city in 1604, these small fortresses soon disappear.
The church had already received a new tower in 1572, and in 1643 it was also extended with a new northern aisle. Not only the village of Stuivekenskerke had its own core, the hamlet of Tervate also had its identity. On the Ferraris maps from around 1770-1778, this hamlet on a bridge over the Yser was of the same size as the actual village center. The village of Stuivekenskerke itself was only accessible from the north via a single dead end country road. Several rural farms are found in the rural area, some of which are enclosed. The Clooster Vicogne has a double wall and a mill, the Clooster Mill. With the end of the ancien regime under French rule, the Norbertines were expelled from the monastery and sold as a national domain. In 1866-1872 people want to restore the St. Peter's Church. Because this turned out to be too much work, Mayor JB De Graeve decided to have a new church built. However, the new church would be built two kilometers north of the village center, in the vicinity of his estate Vicogne. In the following years, a new village center soon arose around this church, with a square, a school, a rectory, an inn and a grocery store. The old church is demolished, except for the tower. The old village center decays into a small hamlet, with a few small houses and a farm. It is called "Oud-Stuivekenskerk". The village was hit hard in the First World War. The Germans try to take the Belgian positions on the left bank from the west across the Yser. The Yser Bend near Tervate is one of the weak links. On October 19, 1914, the bridge was blown up by the Belgian army. Three days later, however, the Germans still manage to cross the Yser. The Belgian army cannot push them back, only bring them to a halt. The night of October 22-23, Belgian officers set fire to the church at Stuivekenskerke, so that the Germans could not use it as an observation post. The next day, however, the Germans penetrated further and occupied several farms, including Vicogne. However, the farm is completely destroyed. On the night of October 30 to 31, the Yser plain is flooded by the Belgians, thus ending the German advance. Over the next four years, the flooded Stuivekenskerke will remain divided into a northern part with German posts, and Oud-Stuivekenskerke with Belgian outposts. This important Belgian outpost "The Great Guard South" was manned from December 1914 to May 1915 by the artillery observer Edouard Lekeux, a reserve lieutenant who was in fact a monastic. After the war he became Franciscan again. He took the initiative to build a memorial chapel "Our Lady of the Victory". was manned from December 1914 to May 1915 by the artillery observer Edouard Lekeux, a reserve lieutenant who was in fact a monastic. After the war he became Franciscan again. He took the initiative to build a memorial chapel "Our Lady of the Victory". was manned from December 1914 to May 1915 by the artillery observer Edouard Lekeux, a reserve lieutenant who was in fact a monastic. After the war he became Franciscan again. He took the initiative to build a memorial chapel "Our Lady of the Victory". The Germans left the area on October 16, 1918.
After some emergency buildings after the war, from 1921 the village that had been completely destroyed was rebuilt. The church, the castle farm Vicogne, the rectory and the municipal school were rebuilt. During this reconstruction, there was a shortage of bricks . The Floorizone family establishes the Nieuwpoort brickworks "Briqueteries Mécaniques de Nieuport & Extensions". Among other things, clay is extracted in Stuivekenskerke, in the area between the Viconiahoeve and the Yser. Until the brickyard was stopped in 1979, clay was mined here on an irregular basis. These Viconia Clay Wells were protected as a nature reserve in 1981.
The Germans left the area on October 16, 1918.
Places of interest.
St. Peter's Church in Gothic Revival
Viconia Kasteelhoeve , (former Norbertijnenhoeve , rebuilt in 1925 )
The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwehoekje in Oud-Stuivekenskerke , the site of the village center until before 1870. On the site is the tower ruin of the former St. Peter's church. After the church was demolished in 1870, the tower was preserved, but it was destroyed in the First World War. Next to it is the memorial chapel Our Lady of the Victory. Now the site consists of the tower ruin, a demarcation pole with the inscription "Here the conqueror was brought to a halt", memorials and memorial columns, a bunker with the former command post and the memorial chapel. The whole and the surroundings have been as landscape since 1959, as village view since 1993 and as monument since 2002.