Spijkenisse of The Netherlands

Spijkenisse is positioned 19 km from Rotterdam in South Holland, which is the largest seaport in Europe and is situated along the ‘Oude Maas’ (Old Meuse).  The Maas River is a distributary of the Rhine River.  In early days the early settlers of Spijkenisse employed the Maas primary for fishing, just before they started farming the surrounding land.

Just across the Maas River is an area known as Botlek.  It is a seaport and industrial location on the west side of the Maas River.  The ‘Botlek’ offers employment to several of Spijkenisse’s inhabitants and my own father was no exception.  As a youngster, my buddy and I employed to walk along a single of the dykes until we were beside the Maas River so we could look across to the Botlek.  The Botlek is house to companies such as oil refinery giant Shell, chemical industry, construction and other significant firms.  The region was a favourite for us youngsters at night when it would be illuminated with so numerous signs and lights.

Image © Robin Waarts

Spijkenisse has been inhabited for over 10,000 years and has many preserved archeological websites.  It initially belonged to the Lord of Putten (De Heer Van Putten) and in 1581 became below handle of the Count of Holland.  The Spijkenisse coat of arms became official in 1935 in honor of Lord of Putten.

Nooitgedacht Windmill

The town is regarded component of the Rotterdam Metropolitan location, and nevertheless has many of its original buildings. One particular prominent function has to be the Old Church (‘Oude Kerk’) where every Thursday a farmers variety marketplace would take location on the Church Square. The Oude Kerk (Old Church) dates back to the 1900’s and was restored in 1933-1934 to its former glory and still stands to this day.  Back when it was develop the village of Spijkenisse would take its shape with the Church in the center and the rows of homes forming a circle about it.  Such a dominant function of Spijkenisse, was the church that one particular of its very first roads was named ‘de Kerkstraat’ (the Church Street).  Spijkenisse has considering that lost its medieval shape, but the Church nonetheless stands as a proud reminder of the previous.

An additional historic building that is firmly glued into my thoughts has to be the old windmill at the edge of town.  And that is only simply because while I was increasing up it housed the local pet shop and even back then I was crazy about animals.  The old windmill is known as ‘Nooitgedacht’ (Never ever-would-have-thought), it was constructed in 1844 as a flour-mill and was employed properly into the 1960’s.  It needed restorations in 1972 and was then employed as the local Pet-shop until 2009 when it was rebuild/restored and registered as a national Monument.  Even these days, the old mill nonetheless turns and its internal mechanisms are in excellent situation due to the fact it has been turning on a regular basis.  The pet shop is now gone and in its location is a Pancake Residence.  There are normal tours into the five levels inside the windmill and it is still a familiar landmark.

Spijkenisse has since my childhood grown into a metropolitan style little city, boasting Metro Rail systems, movie theaters, hospitals, diverse levels of higher educational facilities and a lot of new suburbs being build.  I visited my home town ten years right after I left at the age of 11 and identified it had certainly gotten a lot larger, but the familiar landmarks, houses and folks had been nevertheless there.

Spijkenisse may possibly be large now, but in my thoughts it is nonetheless the little town I grew up in.

About the Author:

Monica Toretto is a writer, painter, photographer and blogger. She lives with her two young sons in Invercargill close to Bluff. She has travelled widely in Canada and the US and worked as a veterinary technician before returning to New Zealand. Her function has appeared in many magazines in the UK and New Zealand. She has also authored a book of poetry and photography called ‘Words’.