GORINCHEM – Archaeologist Drs. PM Floore will give a lecture on Monday 18 November about the results of the excavations at the Happy Corner which were carried out under his leadership in May of this year. Floore, affiliated with the Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology of the University of Amsterdam, explains his story with slides in De Heul at the Nieuwe Hoven. The lecture, organized by the historical society Old Gorcum, starts at 20.00:XNUMX PM.
Excavation Blijenhoek Gorinchem 1996
Residential houses Blijenhoek
On the Happy Corner excavations were carried out for three weeks. Floore was hired by the municipality to supervise the excavations. The lecture will also briefly discuss the discovery of the remains of the castle of the lords of Arkel. On the Happy Corner stood from the late Middle Ages up to and including the 1960s of this century houses about which little was known. The excavation brought to light a large quantity of pottery and utensils that were deposited by the residents in waste pits behind the house over the centuries. This created a good picture of the origins of the city of Gorinchem under the protection of the Arkels. Certainly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the residents of the Happy Corner must have been in very good shape, because the finds of expensive glass objects and pottery clearly show that. The houses were comparable to the largest houses in the Gasthuisstraat. Later in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the neighborhood became considerably impoverished.
Castle of the Lords of Arkel in the Wijschild (1996)
Castle in the Wijdschild
In August, part of the excavation was carried out by an amateur archaeologist from Gorinchem castle of the lords of Arkel found on the Dalemsedijk. A short investigation showed that the castle must have been of great size and was possibly one of the largest medieval castles in the Netherlands. The remains of this important castle are now covered to preserve them for posterity as best as possible. At the moment, some finds from the castle are exhibited in the city hall. Floore's lecture focuses on the relationship between the castle, the Arkels and the origins of the city.
November 13, 1996
Gorcumse Courant