Bolsward - Hartwerd | Klooster Claercamppad pilgrimage trail: Circular walk 2
In the Middle Ages, Bolsward stood on an island between the Middelzee and Marneslenk estuaries. This made it easily accessible by water and the town flourished as a trading centre. In the 18th century Bolsward’s thriving dairy industry was destroyed by cattle plague. But the merchant houses, canals and churches of the Hanseatic city have been carefully preserved.
The canonisation of the Carmelite Friar Titus Brandsma, who was born on a farm on t…
In the Middle Ages, Bolsward stood on an island between the Middelzee and Marneslenk estuaries. This made it easily accessible by water and the town flourished as a trading centre. In the 18th century Bolsward’s thriving dairy industry was destroyed by cattle plague. But the merchant houses, canals and churches of the Hanseatic city have been carefully preserved.
The canonisation of the Carmelite Friar Titus Brandsma, who was born on a farm on the outskirts of the city has made the city a place of pilgrimage. Pilgrims also come to Bolsward to pay their respects to the wooden statue of Our Lady of Sevenwouden, which is believed to work miracles. When the city was looted and burned by a Saxon army, the statue survived in a way that cannot be explained and can still be seen in a side chapel of the beautiful St Francis Church on Grote Dijlakker road.
The Broerekerk church was built as the monastery church of the Friars Minor. A visit to it will take you back in time. The Franciscan Friars came to Bolsward in 1260. Large parts of the three-aisled church were destroyed by a fire. Several years ago a glass roof was installed on top of the remains of the church. The spectacular St Martin’s Church in Bolsward, which stands on the oldest mound in the town, is also worth seeing.
The road to the village of Burgwerd leads you across an ancient polder. A dike with drainage ditches was built around Hartwerd, Burgwerd and Bolsward as early as around the year 1000. The monks of the Bloemkamp and city monasteries are thought to have played an important role in this.
In 1191, a little further on from here, east of Hartwerd, three monks from Claercamp Monastery founded Olde Clooster or Bloemkamp monastery. The monastery helped build drainage systems and dikes and gained large landholdings. In 1572, Bloemkamp monastery was destroyed by the Sea Beggars. Today there is a farm named after the monastery on the mound where the monastery once stood.
Near the graveyard for the village of Hartwerd there was an outlying estate of Bloemkamp monastery known as a ‘Monckehuys’. Today there is no trace of the religious riches of the past in Hartwerd. All that remains is an exhibition of some pieces of pottery in a hiker’s hut. The church was demolished and remnants of the church tower were used to build a small bell tower that still rings once a day.
A farm track takes you past the hamlet of Ugoklooster, where there was a convent for women between 1411 and 1572. Titus Brandsma, later canonised as a saint, was born here in 1881. There is a monument to Titus in front of the farmhouse.
This circular walk is part of the Klooster Claercamppad pilgrimage trail.
Sights on this route
Starting point
Snekerpoort 21
8701 HK Bolsward
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Bolsward (Boalsert)
Bolsward, or Boalsert as we say in Friesland, is the city where history and architecture play a leading role. Let yourself be carried away by the rich history of this eleven cities city.
Broerekerk (church)
The Broerekerk was built in the 13th century as a monastery church of the Friars Minor. The monastery was abandoned and demolished in 1580. The three-aisled church without a tower is a ruin as a result of a fire that took place on 8 May 1980.
11Fountains Bolsward
Bats are intriguing, useful animals, crucial to the ecological system for their insect hunting. In Asian culture, the bat symbolises wealth, happiness and the blessings of old age.
City Hall of Bolsward
The City Hall of Bolsward is one of the most beautiful gems of Friesland, although it's currently surrounded by scaffolding for renovation purposes. The richly decorated City Hall was built in the 1614-1617 period and designed by Jacob Gysbert.
Sint Franciscusbasiliek Bolsward
De Sint Franciscusbasiliek is een Rooms Katholieke kerk in het centrum van Bolsward uit 1933.
Sint Franciscusbasiliek Bolsward
Sint Franciscusbasiliek Bolsward
Grote Dijlakker 8
8701 KV Bolsward
Path along the Bolswardertrekvaart (Bolsward Canal).
A beautiful walking and cycling path along the tow canal of the Bolsward to Leeuwarden canal, near Burgwerd. The path is also referred to as a towpath.
Path along the Bolswardertrekvaart (Bolsward Canal).
Path along the Bolswardertrekvaart (Bolsward Canal).
Trekpad
Burgwerd
Sint-Johanneskerk Burgwerd
Deze van oorsprong romanogotische kerk is omgeven door een ringgracht. Zowel kerk als toren zijn flink verbouwd waardoor de middeleeuwse uitstraling minder is geworden.Het kerkgebouw is met name in 1726 flink aangepakt onder leiding van...
Informatiepunt voormalig klooster Bloemkamp (Oldeclooster)
Informatiepunt in een tuinhuisje over het indrukwekkende middeleeuwse kloostercomplex Bloemkamp (1191-1580) vlakbij Bolsward.
Informatiepunt voormalig klooster Bloemkamp (Oldeclooster)
Informatiepunt voormalig klooster Bloemkamp (Oldeclooster)
Oldeclooster 8
8741 KC Hartwerd
Belevingspunt voormalig klooster Bloemkamp (Oldeclooster)
Belevingspunt op de voormalige locatie van het indrukwekkende middeleeuwse kloostercomplex Bloemkamp (1191-1580) vlakbij Bolsward.
Belevingspunt voormalig klooster Bloemkamp (Oldeclooster)
Belevingspunt voormalig klooster Bloemkamp (Oldeclooster)
Oldeclooster 4
8741 KC Hartwerd
Hartwerd Bell Tower
In the Middle Ages there was a Romano-Gothic church where the Hartwerd bell tower now stands. It was very unusual for a little mound village such as Hartwerd to have its own parish church.
Birthplace Titus Brandsma
On February 23, 1881, Anno Sjoerd Brandsma was born in the Ugo Monastery, near Bolsward. He was the fifth of six children, five of whom would enter the monastery.
St Martin’s Church in Bolsward
St Martin’s Church in Bolsward is a Gothic church. Its substantial gable roof bell tower has dominated the skyline of the city of Bolsward for centuries.
St Martin’s Church in Bolsward
St Martin’s Church in Bolsward
Martinikerk Bolsward
Groot Kerkhof 4
8701 HG Bolsward
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