Ritthem is a village in the Dutch province of

Zeeland Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...

. It is located in the municipality of

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...

, about 4 kilometres east of the city.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1235 as Rithem, and means "settlement near

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

". Ritthem is an incomplete circular church village which developed in the Middle Ages on a ridge. The Dutch Reformed church is a single aisled church with a leaning tower from the 14th century. The 16th century nave was damaged in 1572 during the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exc ...

and rebuilt in 1611 without a choir. Ritthem was home to 362 people in 1840. Ritthem was a separate municipality until 1966, when it was merged with Vlissingen.

Fort Rammekens

Fort Rammekens was built between 1547 and 1556 by orders of

Mary of Hungary Mary, also known as Maria of Anjou (, , ; 137117 May 1395), queen regnant, reigned as Queen of Hungary and List of dukes and kings of Croatia, Croatia between 1382 and 1385, and from 1386 until her death. She was the daughter of Louis I of Hun ...

to control the

Westerschelde The Western Scheldt ( ), in the province of Zeeland in the southwestern Netherlands, is the estuary of the Scheldt river. This river once had several estuaries, but the others are now disconnected from the Scheldt, leaving the Westerschelde as ...

(Antwerp) and the former (Middelburg). The fort was a near triangular shape. It was modified and extended several times. The last modification was by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

in 1810 who added nine

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...

s on the seaside. In 1863, it was decommissioned and used as a ammunition depot. During World War II, it was used by the Germans as part of Landfront Vlissingen and the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall () was an extensive system of coastal defence and fortification, coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defense (military), d ...

. In 1944, the dyke was bombed by the Allies, and filled up with caissons in 1945.

Gallery

File:Fort Rammekens.jpg, Fort Rammekens File:Voor- en zijgevel - Ritthem - 20188719 - RCE.jpg, Street view of Ritthem's Dorpsstraat 27.

References

{{Commons category, position=left Populated places in Zeeland Former municipalities of Zeeland Vlissingen