Blijenhoek exposes Gorcum, traces of houses from the 14th century^e century found

GORINCHEM – Gorinchem did not originate as a small settlement on the banks of the Linge on the Merwede that then grew larger and larger, but was founded and expanded in a relatively short time into a large trading city. This is the cautious conclusion archaeologists draw after two weeks of excavations on the Happy Corner downtown.

At the excavation site, the largest to date in Gorinchem, traces (foundations of houses, waste) from the 14th century were found this week.^e century (1300-1400). Never before have the remains of such old houses been uncovered in the city.

"These houses, already made of brick, were built on virgin soil, where no one had lived before,” says archaeologist Pieter Floore. “That indicates that Gorinchem did not grow organically, like a city like Utrecht or Amsterdam, but was founded. The lords of Arkel have laid out a large city here in a short time. Call it a kind of "Almere on the Merwede".

Floore is still cautious, because the excavation only shows one part of the city, but because the Happy Corner so deep in the old city center he dares to draw that conclusion. “That doesn’t mean that there weren’t already a few houses here and there. But they didn’t slowly increase.”

The excavations show that the first inhabitants of what is now the Happy Corner did not live close together. “It was set up in a wide way. The people had some land around their house, with a shed and some cattle. We also found manure pits here and there around the houses. It was not until the 15^e in 16^e century, those open spaces in the city have been built up.”

The houses that were built in the 16^e century were larger than those built in previous centuries. In the 18^e in 19^e century they actually became smaller again. “The country went into economic decline and the cities became impoverished and run down. Large houses were then divided into smaller town houses. These houses were mostly demolished as slums this century,” says Floore.

Cesspools

The archaeologists also found hundreds of utensils, mostly in cesspits in which the inhabitants deposited not only their needs, but also broken and worn-out items. The first conclusions they draw from the finds is that the first inhabitants were often wealthy and that Gorinchem had a function as a trading city.

"We find a lot of German pottery, which indicates trade ties with Germany, but also remains of cardium shells and saltwater mussels, which came from the coast. Some roofs were also covered with slate, which had to be transported from far away. Slate was a luxury product. That means that the people were not poor," says Floore. His colleague archaeologist Martin Veen: "we have found a cesspit from the 16^e century, among other things, a coconut and Venetian crystal were found. Only wealthy people could buy these things at that time.”

The excavations at the Happy Corner will last until Tuesday.

Archaeologists rave about ancient window pane

The archaeologists who have been working on the site for the past two weeks Happy Corner excavated in the city center of Gorcum, are lyrical about a centuries-old stained glass window that they dug up last week. The shards form a biblical scene in which Christ is brought before Pontius Pilate. The window was found in a cesspit with material from the late 16^e century, but may itself date from the 15th^e century. “The clothing and the pointed shoes are medieval,” says P. Floore of the Amsterdam Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology. He speaks of a unique find, not only for Gorinchem, but also for the Netherlands.

Floore suspects that the masterpiece, which is of 'very high quality', was part of a larger stained glass window in a church or a monastery. "That it was made between late 16^e century material has been found, indicates that it was lost during the Alteration, the transition from Catholicism to Protestantism. It is possible that someone saved it from a demolished church or monastery, but later became Protestant and threw it down the cesspool anyway.”

An expert from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will soon try to determine who made the pane and when it was made. Floore thinks that it will then be offered to the Gorcums Museum for the historical collection.

The Dordrecht resident
May 4, 1996
by Maarten Kuiper