Fleriskot

This farm is named Fleriskot. It is probably the oldest center of the Templars in this region. Different legends also refer to a farm boy, Flerus, who sowed terror in the farm.
Since the 12th century, the Templars owned many farms that served to store the tithes they collected in the region. But this farm was their first true commandery, where they organized their own crops and practiced their religion. It is very likely that they acquired this farm through the former Count of Flanders, Thierry of Alsace, who was a Crusader.
Records from the 14th century refer to the farm under the name of Diclants Chapel and also speak of an oratory, which is the name given to a commandery chapel.
It is very likely that Diclants Chapel preceded the large Commandery of Slijpe. The farm then took the name "Ten Diken." These two names refer to the dike on which the farm was built: the Hoge Dijkweg.
To gain height, the farm was built on a sand hill. It can still be seen today. Stories still circulate about the underground passages that the Templars supposedly dug to Slijpe and Nieuport. They would have traveled through them at full speed at night on fire carts...
By the 16th century, the farm changed its name and has kept it until today. Different legends still refer to a farm boy, Flerus, who allegedly spread terror in the farm. Was it because his love for the farmer's wife was not reciprocated or because he was a servant of the devil?
When it came time to go to the fair, Flerus put in double effort, but when it was church time, he sabotaged everything. Flerus would tie the cows to the ceiling by their tails, put the farmer's cart on the roof of the barn, annoy the servants and the maids...
One day, the farmer and the farmer's wife had enough of Flerus's tricks and called for the pastor. He advised them to make Flerus eat a porridge with garlic. As soon as Flerus tasted it, he exclaimed: "Porridge with garlic! Flerus is leaving and all happiness too!" This spell banished Flerus to the Red Sea, but each year he comes a little closer to the farm. Since then, Fleriskot has been cursed...
No farmer has stayed there for more than 9 years, the barn has been ravaged by flames many times, the land remains barren year after year... It is no coincidence that this legend comes from the 16th century, a time of religious tensions and persecution of heretics. And what if Flerus was simply Protestant?
Flerus being a celebrity in the region, he received his own statue. It is located at the church of Wilskerke.
The buildings that still exist today mostly date back to the 18th century. They miraculously survived the First World War while the old storage barn was completely destroyed.
The current barn was only built after the Second World War.

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