Skipper's Church

This building was a mystery for many years. Before the straightening of the Scheldt, you stood here on the bank of the stream, so the inhabitants of the borough of Leupegem assumed that it had been a boatmen's church. Although the adherents of the parish church theory dared to doubt that. After all, the oldest church in Leupegem was located further north, on the other side of the street Armenlos. In 1828 it was sold and a new church was built on its current location.

According to the most recent findings, the Schipperskerkje would not be a church at all, but a ... lime shed. From the 17th century onwards, lime was stored here, which was brought in from the Tournai region for the fertilisation of the fields and the construction industry. The heavy buttresses on the sides of the building had to absorb the lateral pressure of the stored lime.

In 1722, the year anchored in the façade, the building was used by Daniel Blommaert and J. Lestienne, two lime merchants from Tournai.

Stad Oudenaarde