Ring village

The ring village is one of the oldest village types and very characteristic of Zeeland. The ring villages date back to the period for the systematic dikes and occur in the old land areas of Schouwen-Duiveland, Tholen, Walcheren and South Beveland and in western Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. The villages, like most old roads, lie on the creek ridges. The village centre has a more or less round shape with the church in the middle. An important part of the ring village is the church ring. This road or street is not always round, but sometimes has a rectangular, triangular or another shape. In these cases, it is often a street pattern that originally consisted of a tripping or crossing of roads. By creating a new connecting road, the ring shape was created. Inside the ring is the often higher cemetery with the church. On the outside, the ring has a mostly closed building. Most of the other roads come into the ring. In the past there was often a canal around the cemetery, but this is now very rare (only in Dreischor and Noordgouwe). Another characteristic element in the center is the vaete (drinking well), especially in South Beveland. The ring villages initially consisted of agricultural buildings. In general, the farms have since disappeared from the built-up area and the land released has been seized by non-agricultural buildings. The ring village can be built on a terp and can be compared with the Frisian and Groninger terp villages in terms of spatial structure. A ring village originally does not have a front street, it was sometimes built later, creating a ring-for-street village. One of the most beautiful and most famous examples of a ring village is Dreischor on Schouwen-Duivenland. Here, the church around which the cemetery is located, bordered by a canal. Around it runs the ring street with adjacent houses. Outside the first ring there is a second ring of streets and houses. Schouwen-Duiveland: Dreischor, Haamstede, Kerkwerve, Nieuwerkerke, Noordgouwe, Noordwelle, Ouwerkerk, Renesse, Serooskerke Walcheren: Ritthem, Aagtekerke, Biggekerke, Gapinge, Grijpskerke, Kleverskerke, Koudekerke, Meliskerke, Oostkapelle, Serooskerke, Zoutelande Noord- en Zuid-Beveland: Eversdijk, Kapelle, Kloetinge, Nisse, Oudelande, Oud-Sabbinge, Schore, ‘s-Heer-Abtskerke,’s-Heer-Hendrikskinderen, Sinoutskerke, Waarde. Tholen: Poortvliet, Oud-Vossemeer Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen: Cadzand, Groede, Saint Cross