Nieuwkerke

Nieuwkerke was once a thriving centre of the cloth industry. During the first half of the sixteenth century, even more cloth was produced than in Ghent, Bruges or Ypres. The influx of foreign workers was so great that the centre was bursting at the seams and the village lost its rural character. The cloth was shipped from the Westkwartier to the port of Antwerp and from there to the whole of Europe. The surrounding villages of Dranouter, Wulvergem and Kemmel also shared in the economic prosperity - or rather: the new class of draperiers, because the workers lived in great poverty. Around 1550 the tide turned and the boom came to an end. Nieuwkerke switched from cloth to inferior fabrics and production decreased. This resulted in high unemployment and increasing social unrest.

Dromos