Slijpe

The village of Slijpe was initially called Arleboudskapelle. It was established when Lord Arleboud built a chapel in honor of St. Nicholas around 1100. That Arleboudskapelle was not just a private chapel by a court, around which a small village center grew organically, we learn from old maps. They show that the village and the chapel were founded on a large, subdivided block plot amid four manorial lands of the Count of Flanders. Arleboudskapelle seems to have been something like a "manorial main village," almost as a counterpart to the free main village of Leffinge further on. The block plot itself was divided into three east-west oriented strips, which were split in two by a north-south axis, resulting in the block being divided into six smaller parcels. The church appeared on the north-west parcel, while the other parcels were designated for habitation. The large village plot was surrounded by roads, along which there was also development in the 16th century (and probably earlier). The rational, systematic concept of the village of Arleboudskapelle perfectly matches that of other villages established in the High Middle Ages. The name 'Sclipis,' which means mudflat area, was the term used long before the founding of Arleboudskapelle to refer to the entire area that was influenced by the tides. During the 14th century, Arleboudskapelle adopted the name of the surrounding area in the form of Slypen, which then evolved into Slijpe. In the streets around the church, one can still sense the medieval atmosphere: although the village was largely destroyed during World War I, the old parcel boundaries were respected during the reconstruction. These small narrow streets date back to the subdivision around 1100. Especially Sint-Niklaasstraat and Paddenstraat give a good idea of this.

Toerisme Middelkerke