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Moerkerke
The castle of Moerkerke is not the only one on the territory of the village. Not far from the road to Vivenkapelle, there's the castle of Altena. It stands in fact closer to the church of Vivenkapelle than the church of Moerkerke, but it still is on Moerkerke's territory (more details).
Moerkerke is surrounded by lots of green. Alongside the canals (Leopoldcanal and Schipdonkcanal), locally nicknamed the "Blinker" (clean one) and "Stinker" (smelly one) you can make beautiful trips by foot, bike or horse. If you like to enjoy nature in an active way, this is surely worth doing. Or savour the vaste polders around Moerkerke with their old farms and numerous little chapels. to:
map of Moerkerke / map
with general overview
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Our
first records go back to 1110. The name "Moerkerke" means church
in a marsh, but in the beginning there was no church in the village, but a
chapel. This chapel fell, as did so many other ones in the region, under
the authority of the church of 
The present church
was consecrated in 1870 and its patron saint is St.-Dionysius. About
the churches that stood here before, little is known. In the beginning of
the 15th century, repairs were carried out. In 1547, the tower collapsed
and was rebuilt 2 years later. In 1600, the church was destroyed.
The reconstruction was completed in 1654. Eventually, the church was
replaced by the present one. At the end of the Second World War (September
12th 1944 to be precise), the tower was shot down by 9 German grenades, fired
from artillery placed on the other side of the canals (see 
Through
marriage, the manor Moerkercke passed from the family "van Moerkerke"
on to the family "van Praet". The reputation of the stronghold
is closely related to the name "van Praet", an old noble family (see
also 
In
the midst of the fields between Moerkerke and 
Out
of the 7 mills there used to be in the village, not even one still
remains. The quarter "het Molentje" thanks its name to a mill
that used to be there untill 1922. It was a wooden standardmill which was
used during more than 150 years by the same family. "De molen van
Schuts" (named by the villagers that way, after the name of the last
millner) initially was a wooden mill too, but was rebuilt in in stone 1858.
This mill was shot on fire by Canadian tanks on 12 September 1944, because they
thought it was used by the Germans as a look-out post. The stone walls
remained until 1957; then the ruins of the mill were pulled down.
The
most notorious page in the history book of Moerkerke is not such pleasnant
one. In 1944, a fierce battle took place around the quarter "het
Molentje", known as 
