Vlassenbroek Polder

The Vlassenbroek Polder is located in Baasrode, a district of the city of Dendermonde, and is approximately 300 hectares large. This is more than 1/3 of the total area of Baasrode.

Before the diking of the Scheldt, extensive reed fields and swamp forests were found in the polder, which flooded regularly. This constituted a significant obstacle to human attempts at reclamation for a long time. Diking from the 14th century and further reclamation, usually after drainage, transformed the landscape into an open polder landscape with narrow meadows and many ditches. In the 1950s, poplars were planted on these wet grounds due to their rapid growth and economic value. The black poplar, a native poplar, disappeared in favor of the faster-growing Canada poplar.

As a result of the reclamation, the hamlet of Vlassenbroek was established here around the 11th century. The small church in Romanesque-Gothic style, built on the remains of a Roman watchtower, dates from the same period.

Windekind