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Nieuwkerke and the region in the noisy 16th century
From the Middle Ages onwards, the cloth industry brought prosperity to Flanders and the villages in the Westhoek. When the necessary supply of English wool stopped in the early 16th century, unemployment and the economy came to a standstill. Speculation with the grain supply caused the inhabitants to rebel against the administrative power. Church leaders also share in the blame, partly because the German church reformer Luther published the Bible in the vernacular. The rebels called themselves Beggars (an old French term for beggar) and after a while they went on a rampage. The Spanish government responds with the Inquisition. The Geuzen sympathisers go into hiding or have to flee and seek refuge in England, Germany and later the Netherlands.
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Our Lady
Nieuwkerke is an ancient commune on the roman road Belle- Wervik and in 1105 was already known as “Nova Ecclesia” (New Church).In 1080 a Romanesque church was opened on the site of an ancient chapel by the monks of Sint-Jan –ter-Berghe. This church was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Thus, in the 16th century it was changed to a late gothic building but this, unfortunately, was severely damaged, apart from the south west façade, during the First World War.
The present church with its three naves was built in 1922-23 in Neo-Romanesque style by Joseph Viérin.
Inside are several treasures; a statue of Christ on the Cross (1600), a Stations of the Cross by C Vallaeys (1923) and stained glass windows that commemorate the murder of three priests at Reningelst.
Every quarter of an hour the sound of four small bells of the carillon ring out.
The church council produced a very interesting illustrated brochure in 2003.
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