Avekapelle / Avencapella

No font listed in the BALaT KIK-IRPA entry for this church. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 26 November 2025) provides background historical information on Avekapelle from its 13th-century inception to the present; it adds: "Baptismal records exist since 1583. No historical baptismal font survived."
A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 26 November 2025) informs: "Avekapelle, Sint-Michielskerk https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Michielskerk_(Avekapelle). According to its toponym, the polder village of Avekapelle is a relatively young parish. The village center is clearly a dike settlement, with the settlement developing behind the sea dike. Avekapelle, formerly dependent on the older parish of Steenkerke, developed into an independent entity under Desiderius, Bishop of Thérouanne, between 1169 and 1191. The date 1149 is often mentioned. Its history clearly illustrates how older settlements became independent parishes. The population, which at one point grew considerably, complained that it was too far from the parish church and, above all, that it was almost impossible to attend church safely—"propter mortales inimicitias." A dependent chapel was established there, but the parishioners were far from satisfied with this measure, and after repeated insistence, the abbot of St. Bertin's, on the advice of Desiderius, Bishop of Thérouanne, finally appointed a priest, and Avekapelle was thus separated as a parish from Steenkerke. The parish's patronage was in the hands of St. Nicholas' Abbey in Veurne. In 1199, in response to a dispute with the pastor of Steenkerke, who was forced to surrender his share of the tithes of Avekapelle, the archives of St. Bertin's in Poperinge recorded: "... super portionem decime de Avencapella, ad presbiterum pertinentem, ... quod Avencapella membrum olim fuerit ecclesie de Stenkerca..." The cartulary of Dune Abbey at Koksijde in 1295 states: "en Willemcappelle et en Avencapelle". In 1593, the former church was destroyed by the Geuzen. It was subsequently rebuilt in the late Gothic style. During the First World War, the village of Avekapelle was largely destroyed. After the war, the church was restored, completed in 1924. Baptismal records exist since 1583. No historical baptismal font survived."