Between Ertvelde and Oost-Eeklo

Ertvelde is a village in the Belgian province of East Flanders and a sub-municipality of Evergem, it was an independent municipality until the municipal reorganization of 1977. Ertvelde is located in the Ghent Canal Zone, on the border between the Ghent Houtland and the Meetjesland. History The earliest mention of Ertvelde dates from 1167 under the name Artevelde. In a document from 1182, Count of Flanders Philip of Alsace speaks of a "villa de Arthevelde", which would suggest a much older structure. The exploitation of Ertvelde probably started in the 12th century. Ertvelde was part of the Ambacht Assenede in the Four Crafts, largely belonging to the counts of Flanders, who sold it in 1649 to the lords della Faille. The viscounts, who are mentioned from the 12th century onwards, had a motte-and-bailey castle built on the "Hoge Wal" on the Burggravenstroom, which was destroyed during the Ghent uprising in 1385. In ecclesiastical terms, the parish emerged in the 12th century from the mother parish of Assenede. In 1232 the demarcation of the parishes of Ertvelde and Klokken was recorded. The church, dedicated to Our Lady, was a villa church or private church of the Viscount of Ghent. The Viscount of Ghent exercised patronage over the church until the end of the ancien régime. Before 1570, the parish was part of the diocese of Utrecht, afterwards of the diocese of Ghent, deanery Evergem. The municipality suffered greatly during the uprisings of the people of Ghent against the central authority in 1385 and 1488-93. During the French king's punitive expedition against rebellious Ghent in 1385, the French army occupied Ertvelde. The viscount's "castle" was destroyed and the village completely destroyed. Ertvelde was also completely destroyed during the battles against Duke Philip the Good. In the 16th century it was ravaged to such an extent that a real depopulation of the region followed. At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century, the municipality suffered from the French wars of conquest. During the First World War, the Germans built bunkers in Ertvelde and Klokken for the Holland Defense Line, a fortified line to defend the land border. Several of these bunkers have been preserved. Due to its location on the Ghent-Terneuzen canal, Ertvelde suffered a lot during the Second World War. The church tower of Ertvelde was blown up and during the bombings in 1944 the American air force destroyed German petrol supplies in the industrial zone of Rieme and a large part of the parish was destroyed. In 1965 the municipality of Klokken was annexed. In 1977, Ertvelde in turn became a sub-municipality of Evergem. (Source Wikipedia)