Kerk, Kerkhorn 4

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Characteristic of a (protected) terpen settlement and marking the hamlet of Wittewierum, built on 13th-century foundations and using material from an early 17th-century successor, in its present form mainly erected in 1863 in a mixture of neo-gothic and Waterstaatsstijl style, with what may also be a 13th-century grave vault, and valuable 16th-century and later interior components; the church and adjoining churchyard, nicely planted and, given the age of some tombstones possibly in use as such since the 18th century, are both situated on the terpen of Wittewierum, which dates from around the beginning of our era and is protected as an archaeological monument, at the location of the church begun in 1238 of the Premonstratensian abbey Bloemhof; remains of that and of an early-17th-century successor may still be preserved in and beneath the present church building.

The rectangular hall building from 1863, built on 13th-century foundations, is constructed mainly of red brick, whereby for the section now provided with block plaster below the windows (wholly or partially?) use was made of older material (from the early-17th-century predecessor?); the building is covered by a three-sided hipped roof laid with blue tiles with a small pinnacle at the rear; (The open-worked wooden turret with ornamental ironwork at the front was lost in 1940-1945). The front facade, set off on both sides with a checkered corner pilaster—the ironwork turrets of which were also lost in '40-'45—has above and on both sides of the entrance set in a block-plastered central projection with recessed fields with fanlight with cast-iron tracery, respectively two pointed-arch windows with similar tracery, simply moulded drawn moulding of cement plaster around door, windows and to cover the masonry of the front facade; drip mouldings; recessed fields in the block plaster; above the door a foundation stone with the inscription: BUILT 1863. Churchwardens, J.O. ALKEMA, J.F. EISSES, H.G. TUINENGA. Minister, J. de RAADT. ALMSHOUSE.

Both side facades are likewise provided with block plaster to the height of the windows, have six pointed-arch windows separated from one another by moulded pilasters, of which one is blind and five with cast-iron tracery; the rear facade is without pilasters but with two similar windows; along the base of the roof edge a carved wooden moulding with, at the height of the wall anchors, inverted wooden obelisks.

The interior is covered by a pressed plastered barrel vault with cast-iron grilles, which rests on a projecting moulded stucco cornice; the walls are likewise plastered and enlivened by a simple plaster moulding around the windows; above and on both sides of the entrance set in a simple but carefully finished mid-19th-century classical-looking wooden frame with the inscription JES: 2 VERS 3 a plastered tri-foil motif and a blank space have been provided.

In the interior paved with grey sandstone and historic tombstones with an equally raised choir the following are of importance:

-the grave vault possibly still from the 13th century or older, located at the height of the choir, with ribbed vault and blackish-grey tiles, for the Rengers family;

-various 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century grave tombstones, likewise of the Rengers family;

-a well-carved oak wooden cover piece of a bench (17th century) with the coat of arms Rengers-Polman, supported by two griffons;

-the otherwise austere, but carefully designed mid-19th-century furnishings, consisting of a pulpit with sounding board, two gentlemen's pews and two rows of church benches decorated with a single neo-gothic detail or with modest carved work, and the said classical-looking door frame.

On the churchyard situated on the protected terpen, possibly in use since the 18th century, lie and stand approximately seventy tombstones, some of which are difficult to read; a few from the 18th century, but the majority from the 19th and early 20th centuries, with modest to more elaborate design, and sometimes bordered with simple cast-iron ironwork.

Characteristic of a protected terpen settlement dating from around our era and partly still founded on and erected from remains of older predecessors, in its present form mainly dating from 1863, but in its original conception a 13th-century church building in the style of neo-gothic and Waterstaatsstijl, with adjoining the churchyard possibly in use since the 18th century nicely planted with 18th-century and later grave tombstones, of general importance because of:

-the presence of old foundations and reused materials that recall the church begun in 1238 of the Premonstratensian abbey Bloemhof and an early 17th-century successor;

-the valuable interior components, consisting of a grave vault possibly still from the 13th century and various 16th-century and later grave tombstones in the church for the Rengers family;

-a well-carved preserved cover piece from the 17th century of the Rengers-Polman bench;

-the remainder of simple 19th-century church furnishings belonging to the present building from 1863;

-the relationship with the churchyard included in the protection which is situated on the terpen already protected as an archaeological monument from the beginning of our era and the characteristic location on it marking the hamlet of Wittewierum.

The churchyard, originally possibly in use since the 18th century with nice planting, is of general importance because of:

-the historical relationship with the present church building and with predecessors thereof;

-the presence of approximately seventy 18th-, 19th- and early-20th-century tombstones of simple but carefully finished design, which keep alive the memory of former residents of Wittewierum;

-the situation on the terpen already protected as an archaeological monument from the beginning of our era.