Vanished churches
Over the centuries, numerous church buildings have been demolished or disappeared in the Netherlands, including in municipality of Opsterland. At least 15 medieval churches have stood in Opsterland, according to the chapel list of 1315.
Of the medieval churches, only the Petruskerk in Ureterp, the Sint Hippolytuskerk of Olterterp and the Sint Janskerk of Duurswoude have survived. Of some of the vanished churches, however, traces remain. These are sometimes invisible to the outside world, such as a reused foundation under a church building, but in a few cases they are actually quite visible, such as tuff incorporated into the exterior walls.
Building materials or foundations of stone churches were regularly reused for a new church building. Some examples are the Witte Kerk on the Binnenwei in Hemrik, the Sint Martenskerk of Beetsterzwaag and the church of Wijnjeterp on the Tsjerkereed in Wijnjewoude. The eighteenth-century Witte Kerk is partly set up on the older foundations of an earlier medieval church dedicated to Sint Andreas that stood on the same site. Moreover, in the church walls monastic bricks were found from a possible predecessor. Two successive churches have stood on the church hill of Wijnjeterp. The present church of Wijnjeterp, built in 1778, was constructed of stones that came from the older church. The still existing late Gothic fifteenth-century church of Duurswoude was also built with older monastic bricks, the origin of which is not entirely certain.
The vision religious heritage and the Map below list all the churches that have disappeared in the last 150 years.
