Last month, I visited the farm that is right on the border of Belgium
and France, the Groot Moerhof, in Adinkerke (B) and Gijvelde/Ghyvelde
(F). The old farm is situated on an old promontory into the marshes of
De Moeren, that were drained for the first time by Wenzel Cobergher in
the 17th century. In the 18th century, the polder was flooded twice. It
was in this time that the boundary between the Austrian and French
Netherlands had to be drawn anew, and because the area was rather
impenetrable, a line was drawn between two points that stood out and
had a clear line of sight: the high church tower of
Hondschoote/Hondschote, and the chimney of the Groot Moerhof on the
other side of the marshes. Along this line a low dike was built when
the marshes were reclaimed for the third time.
The circular canal around the polder De Moeren is called the Ringsloot
(Ring ditch). It cuts off the promontory of Groot Moerhoef, so that the
farm is actually inside the Ringsloot. But the old coastline of the
marsh can still be seen on maps: it is the municipal boundary of
Gijvelde/Ghyvelde and Moerekerke/Les Moëres.
In the second world war, the polder was flooded for the fourth time,
but now it is dry and thriving again.
When I visited the farm, that is nowadays a sort of bistro and party
centre, the family that live there (dad, mom, two small kids) told me
that they only knew that the dog house in the courtyard (a very
peculiar pointy little building) and the central chimney marked the
border, and that the border wasnt marked anywhere in the farm itself.
Because the dog house is on the other side of the chimney vis-à-vis
Hondschote/Hondschoote church, the chimney might be a turning point in
the boundary, but the couple didnt know. They didnt know either where
to find boundary markers, but I found some myself later (not on the
straight line Groot Moerhof-Hondschoote/Hondschote, but on the other
side of the Ringsloot very nice ones, by the way, and very well
preserved, from 1819). So GCEBEs rule Never ask the locals, because
they dont know either is certainly true here as well. What they did
give me, however, was a little leaflet of their bistro, and a page from
the menu booklet, which describes the place, and which I have
translated for you below:
---
On horseback on the border
Through the ages, this relatively big farm remained a property of the
Dunes Abbey, but in 1795 it was sold, following the secularisation of
all goods of the Church by the French revolution, as black property,
and changed into private hands.
The buildings of the Groot Moerhof date from 1762, like it says on the
stone above the entrance. At the end of the 18th century the
concessionaire of the time built a dike, as part of the land
reclamation works, with a ditch on both sides.
The dike went along a straight line that connects the chimney of the
Groot Moerhof with the church tower of Hondschote. This line forms the
actual international boundary, and was recognised as the real boundary
of the country in the Dutch period.
This is why the boundary between France and Belgium still runs straight
through the Groot Moerhoef. Literally straight through it, that is,
because the division between the two countries runs across the
courtyard, straight through the dog house, enters the living quarters
through the front door and leaves it through the back door.
On several places around the farm you can still see boundary markers
with on one side a letter N (Nederland), and on the other side F
(France).
These are all, indeed, standing in one straight line between the
chimney of the Groot Moerhof and the church of Hondschote.
It is clear that this situation gave the various proprietors many
advantages.
The living quarters have two cellars. The French cellar was used for
the storage of wine, but if one wanted a piece of cheese, one had to
cross, via the same corridor, and with the bottle in hand, the border,
to the other cellar. Because there, on Belgian territory, the cheese
balls were waiting.
The biggest advantages of the Groot Moerhof were, without any doubt,
the inexhaustible opportunities for smuggling.
The kind of merchandise that passed this place through the ages verges
on the incredible. The blauwers [smugglers] knew all front and back
passages, and no merchandise was crazy enough for crossing the border
right here.
An old piece of succession rule stated that the doors of the house
couldnt ever be barred or bolted, so that The Law could always enter
freely to catch any villain that might be there.
---
I also include a little scan of the front of the leaflet the couple
gave me, with a view of the Groot Moerhof from the air. At the top of
the picture, you can see the dike that forms the boundary. Between the
dike and the farm, there is a bunker, which may be right on the border,
but I suspect it is just in Belgium. The chimney which forms the
boundary marker here is the central one, at the spot where a small wing
(with three more chimneys) branches off. It is here that the bistro is.
The place I was eating was just in France, but the bar, two metres
away, was in Belgium. The pointy dog house with six poles around it,
also on the border, can clearly be seen.
I have made some pictures, which I will scan and post in the near
future.
Peter S.
PS: Yes, the food was good! So, if you are travelling with people that
couldnt care less about boundaries (these people exist!), you can
always use this argument.....
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