Blijenhoek revealed a wealth of information

GORINCHEM – The results of two weeks of archaeological research are laid out on the floor of the old City Office. A wealth of information has been Happy Corner and the Pig market brought to the surface. It is not inconceivable that this leads to new insights and theories about the origins and life in the Middle Ages of Gorinchem. All kinds of utensils but also the remains of approximately thirty Franciscans, who populated the city in the fourteenth century are neatly arranged.

Volunteers are busy cleaning the finds. 'Some things require haste', says Martin Veen, who closely followed the investigation on behalf of the municipal advisory committee. 'The wooden material needs to be freeze-dried as soon as possible, otherwise it will fall apart, and the leather objects need to be kept as moist as possible. 'The treasures from the soil are stored in the workspace of the archaeological working group, where they are further preserved and restored'. This does not apply to the incredibly beautiful glassware that is on the Happy Corner has been found. The restoration of this is being outsourced because the local archaeologists lack the necessary knowledge.

For the most valuable and remarkable find, Veen refers to a centuries-old stained-glass framework. It forms a biblical scene in which Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate. Veen: 'The glassware was found in a cesspit of a sixteenth-century house. We assume that it is older because of the fifteenth-century shoes and clothing that the depicted figures are wearing. The glass is of a special quality. One conclusion could be that residents took it from somewhere and later threw it in the cesspit. We are now trying to trace the maker of the glassware so that we can arrive at a better dating.'

Iconoclasm

Pieter Floore, who coordinates the excavations in the city centre on behalf of the Amsterdam Institute of Prehistoric and Prehistoric Archaeology, assumes that the masterpiece is part of a stained glass window from a church or monastery and that it was destroyed during the period of the iconoclasm.

But the bottom of the Happy Corner , where a shopping promenade will soon be built, offered the archaeologists more. Veen: 'Of everything you can come across. Especially a lot of cesspools: the garbage cans of the people who lived in the 'middle ages. In them we found pipe heads, tools, pots, pans, glassware, leather and pottery'.

13^e of 14^e Century

The researchers also came across the foundations of houses built on the site in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Happy Corner were built. Veen: 'The houses are about ten meters apart. In between them was a kind of yard with shelters for the animals. On the maps of Gorinchem from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it is indicated that this location on the Happy Corner was built, but not in what way. We have now been able to uncover what, roughly speaking, was present in the inner city at this point at the beginning of the fourteenth century. We date this on the basis of found shards from that period.

Veen says that it has so far added little to the theories about the history of the city's origins. "More in-depth research is needed for that. It was known that there was construction around the fourteenth century. It has now been established that this was also the case on this piece of land. But we may come across twelfth-century remains elsewhere in the city. The construction was built here all at once in the fourteenth century. No indications have been found that indicate that anything developed before that time."

Cemetery

Finding the Franciscan cemetery at the Pig market is purely coincidental. The Gorinchem City Restoration Foundation is working on the restoration of several houses there. Workers came across several crates while driving piles and informed the archaeologists who were working on the Happy Corner . Chronicles and history books indicate that a Franciscan monastery complex stood on this site around 1450. The remains of the brothers are exposed to scientific research.

Veen says that the archaeological research on the Happy Corner is unique for Gorinchem. 'Never before has archaeological research been conducted on this scale in the city. A team of 35 volunteers led by Pieter Floore worked on the excavations for two weeks. What makes it unique is that pupils from the Oude Hoven, the gymnasium and the Merewadecollege were also involved. The research was fully funded by the municipality of Gorinchem. Otherwise we would never have come this far', Veen explains.

A municipal advisory committee has prepared the proposal to Happy Corner to get started. This committee is formed by representatives of the Historical Society Oud-Gorcum, the Archaeological Working Group of the Netherlands, the National Service for Archaeological Heritage Research, the National Association of Amateur Archaeology, city archivist AJ Busch, Rob Kreszner of the Gorcum Museum and municipal secretary F. Cerutti.

Large-scale research

Veen explains why it is precisely on the Happy Corner a large-scale archaeological investigation has been started for Gorinchem standards. 'It is a fairly large area, where you can get by well. As researchers, we are often limited to a single plot of land. It is then difficult to dig deep. The Happy Corner gave us more possibilities. We assumed that there were houses here. That assumption was correct. And then you come across all sorts of things'.

The working group will now start restoring and conserving the finds. The intention is to produce a book and an exhibition about the excavations at the Happy Corner to put together.

Compass Active
May 29, 1996