Baarland / Baerland

The entry for this church in Reliwiki [https://www.reliwiki.nl/index.php/Baarland,_Slotstraat_3_-_Sint_Maartenskerk] [accessed 9 December 2021] informs that the baptismal font was disposed off in the modifications of 1776, becoming a cattle trough; it was later recovered by the Zeeuws Genootschap der Wetenschappen, Middelburg, later still to be held and displayed in the Zeeuws Museum, also in Middelburg; in 2004 the font was returned to the Sint Maartenskerk in Baarland. ["Bij de sloop van de oude Hervormde Kerk in 1776 verdween ook het oude doopvont. Het werd een drinkbak voor het vee. In de 19de eeuw kwam het vont in bezit van het Zeeuws Genootschap der Wetenschappen in Middelburg en weer later was het in het Zeeuws Museum in Middelburg te zien. Voorjaar 2004 is het doopvont weer teruggekeerd naar de Sint Maartenskerk van Baarland. Baarland vormt samen met ‘s Gravenpolder één kerkelijke gemeente."] Further to the above, Pol Herman, in a communication (e-mail of 2 December 2021) to BSI adds: "Several articles in the local newspaper Provinciale Zeeuws Courant, 2003 and 2004, De Nederlands Hervormde Kerk van Baarland in het nieuws : presentatie van het doopvont, by A.H. Rietveld. Tuesday evening March 9, 2004 the church in Baarland was once again full of old-fashioned bustle: a large number of inhabitants of the village and many invited guests from outside the village had accepted the invitation of the municipal council for a special program. On that evening, the old original baptismal font could be admired, which has regained its place next to the pulpit, after centuries of absence. In the period 1500-1550, the baptismal font probably was first consecrated in the Catholic Saint Martin's Church in Baarland in front of a public in which the society at that time was reflected (higher and lower clergy, notables, wealthy citizens and the public). The inhabitants of the village must have been enterprising during the fifteenth century, because they enjoyed certain privileges in the field of trade. The church, which is really not small, was expanded into a three-hall church. After the rich Roman Catholic period, the church became a Protestant church during the Reformation. Partly due to the declining population, the church ran into financial difficulties. From 1753 dates a request to the States of Zeeland to tax owners of horses for the maintenance of the church building. To no avail, in 1774 two-thirds of the church was demolished. The baptismal font must have disappeared from the church as early as the seventeenth century, when the side wing of the church, where the baptismal font stood, was demolished. We find the baptismal font at one point in history as a drinking vessel for the cattle on a farm. In the period 1850-1860, Mayor Bruggeman got wind of this and had the baptismal font transferred as cultural heritage to the Zeeuws Genootschap, for safekeeping for future generations. In Middelburg the font was housed in the so-called stone room in the new museum of the Society. The baptismal font stood in this room until the Zeeuws Museum moved to the Old Abbey. He was then taken to a depot. Some years ago, one of the Church members, C. Ellenbaas-Murre, was on vacation in Canada and came to a birthday party with people who had immigrated to Canada from Baarland after the 1953 flood. They talked about Baarland and about the church. Then it turned out that a ninety-year-old knew where the old baptismal font was. It had been brought to Souburg. When the Ellenbaas family returned, they went looking, and sure enough, it was in a warehouse. And thanks to the loyal cooperation of the museum, this heirloom has found refuge in the church from which it disappeared so long ago. Only a pedestal and the basin are preserved, the piece in between has been lost. A stonemason would have to make a suitable column in the right type of stone, but of course that costs money.