hamlet of Fintele

At the confluence of the Lovaart and Yser rivers lies the hamlet of Fintele. As early as the 13th century, there is mention of a windlass that connected the Lovaart with the Yser and lifted the boats from one river to the other over a dam. The name Fintele is said to be a distortion of the 13th-century name Wind-ele and refers to the place (=ele) where the windlass (= bindweed) stood. That ?bindweed? consisted of two large wheels on a thick axle and was set up on the bank of the IJzero at the mouth of the Lovaart. Attached to the wheels were planks on which the women of Fintele walked and thus made the wheels turn. The ship, which was connected to the wheels by cords, then slid along the road into a grease-smeared channel. The vessels transferred in this way had a loading capacity of 12 to 15 tonnes and a draught of only 50 cm. As can be read on the memorial stone at the bridge, the laying of the first stone of the current sassen complex dates from 1827. The construction works were commissioned by William I of the Netherlands.

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