Friday 29 January 2010

Delfshaven, South Holland


When this card popped through our letter box a few weeks ago I was delighted by it.  In spite of our recent wintry weather, I'm still attracted by lovely snow scenes.  What I hadn't realised was that it captures something historic as well as beautiful.

The scene is a canal in an area in Rotterdam called Delfshaven.  Delfshaven means the port of Delft, and it was created in 1389 because Delft itself had no access to a major river.  Since then it first became an independent city in 1811, and later a part of Rotterdam.

In the scene on the card there is a church just to the left of the barge's mast.  In 1417 there was a Roman Catholic church on the site, the church of St. Anthony.  During the reformation it became a Protestant church.

In 1608 a group of English dissenters left the Anglican church to found their own community in the Netherlands.  After 11 years in Leiden they decided that they would go to America so that they could worship how they wanted and in July 1620 they left from Delfshaven in the ship "Speedwell".  The group of pilgrims knelt on the quayside near the church to pray before they set off.  The Speedwell set sail for England and joined forces with the Mayflower in Southampton before they both set off to cross the Atlantic.  After a while the Speedwell started to leak so both ships turned back to England where many of the Speedwell's passengers transferred to the Mayflower, which finally left Plymouth in September 1620.

The church later became known as the Pilgrim Fathers' Church because of this association but it's also known as the Old Church, De Oude.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday.
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13 comments:

  1. What a fascinating story! And a lovely postcard as well... Snowy landscapes are always so magical (even if they're slightly annoying!)

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  2. Beautiful card and fascinating history. Thanks. I love learning new things.

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  3. the historic information is very interesting.

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  4. We may curse the snow for its biting cold, but it's still a thing of beauty to behold. Lovely postcard!

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  5. A wonderful wintery picture postcard! Great history to go along with it! Thanks for sharing, thanks for stopping by my blog! PFF

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  6. thank you - great story. happy pff.

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  7. You are absolutely right a snow scene is just so serene. Love your card and all the history behind it. thanks for sharing. Happy PFF

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  8. this is such a winter fairytale picture and the mellow glow from the windows and street lamp make it perfect. good to learn about the history of the place. :)

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  9. Your lovely postcard reminds me of scenes from one of my favorite films, "Girl with a Pearl Earring." Happy belated PFF!

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  10. Wow, this is so breathtaking and calming. I would love to go Holland.

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  11. It certainly is a magical scene. It makes me crave Christmas pudding. I'm still crossing my fingers for warmer weather though:)

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  12. Thank you for posting this beautiful card - it brought back wonderful memories of my trip to The Netherlands a little over a year ago. Although I spent most of my time in and around The Hague, I spent two full days in Delft, and it was absolutely magnificent (in spite of the fact that there was a fashion show going on between the Nieuwe Kerk and Town Hall). I never actually made it to Delfshaven (I was in the actual town of Delft, not the port), but it brought back the memories anyway - and it looks gorgeous (but cold. very cold.).

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  13. Lovely post! Lovely picture.

    Thanks for Rewinding at the Fibro.

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