Vanished places
The First Petten
South of present-day Petten stood a medieval fishing village near the Hondsbosch dunes. It was known as Petten dat Hontsbosch hiet and is linked in some reconstructions with Petten in Nolmerban. During the St Elizabeth’s flood of 1421, the narrow coastal dunes were breached and the village, including its Church of Saint Willibrord, disappeared. The shoreline subsequently retreated farther inland. Only historical records, reconstructions and the course of the coastal defences recall the settlement that once stood here.
Why go here?
The first Petten reveals how unstable the position of a medieval coastal village could be. It did not stand behind a massive sea dyke, but beside a narrow line of dunes vulnerable to storm breaches. Where houses, fishermen’s yards and a stone church once stood, there are now beach, newly created dunes and the North Sea. The present landscape therefore conceals both a vanished village and an earlier coastline that lay considerably farther west.
What do you see?
You see the broad new dunes, the beach and the North Sea south of present-day Petten. No recognisable remains of the medieval village survive above ground. Its probable site lies seaward of the present coastline and partly beneath later coastal deposits. The Hondsbossche sea defence, the inland polders and historical maps show how far the boundary between land and sea has shifted here.
Why it matters
The first Petten shows that the Dutch coastline was never a fixed boundary. An entire village with houses, fishermen’s yards, a church and probably a churchyard disappeared when the dunes were breached and the sea flooded the land. The later Hondsbossche sea defence protected the hinterland, but also became a new boundary beyond which the lost settlement never returned. The site therefore connects medieval habitation, storm floods and centuries of coastal defence.
The deeper story
South of present-day Petten, a medieval village stood beside a dune area known as the Hondsbosch. Historical records refer to the settlement as Petten dat Hontsbosch hiet. Its precise relationship with names such as Petten in Nolmerban remains debated, but historical reconstructions place this early settlement approximately one and a half to two kilometres south of the present village and closer to the former shoreline.
The village occupied a landscape very different from today’s broad coastal zone. A narrow and vulnerable line of dunes separated the sea from the low polders. Behind it ran dykes, waterways and routes towards Schoorl and the inland settlements. The coastline lay farther west than it does today. Between dunes, beach and low ground developed a community dependent on fishing, farming and movement along the coast.
A church dedicated to Saint Willibrord stood in the village. The presence of a stone church shows that this was more than a temporary fishing camp. Houses, yards, paths and probably a churchyard surrounded it. Fishing boats were hauled onto or near the beach, while timber from the dunes may have supplied fuel for beacons and fish smoking. The first Petten was small, but closely connected with the sea, dunes and hinterland.
Farther north, a second settlement known as Petten bi der Sijpe developed during the thirteenth century. The older village consequently acquired a more specific name. These different names and administrative divisions later caused confusion. Medieval accounts refer to separate districts and settlements, but not every name necessarily denotes a different village. What is clear is that the old settlement near the Hondsbosch lay south of the Petten from which the present village developed.
During the night of 18 to 19 November 1421, the St Elizabeth’s flood struck the coast. The narrow dunes near Petten were breached. Seawater flooded the land behind them and the village near the Hondsbosch was lost. Later accounts of the County of Holland recorded that Petten had ceased to exist because it had been inundated by the sea. The church disappeared as well and was rebuilt several years later farther north at Petten bi der Sijpe.
The disaster became associated with a story of hundreds of inhabitants seeking refuge in the church and drowning there. Church treasures were also said to have been recovered near Bergen after the flood, giving rise to the tradition of the Holy Blood of Bergen. These accounts form part of the cultural memory of the disaster. Historical sources support the destruction of the village and church in 1421, but the number of victims and elements of the miracle story are less certain.
After the flood, efforts were made to close the coastline again. The dunes were repaired and a dyke was constructed behind the damaged coastal strip. These successive defensive works eventually developed into the Hondsbossche sea defence. The barrier protected the land behind it, but could not restore the vanished village. Its former site remained outside the new line of defence and was erased by continuing erosion and shifting sand.
The first Petten should not be confused with later settlements that also disappeared through coastal erosion or human intervention. A successor village was badly affected by the sea in 1625. Centuries later, a newer settlement was demolished during the Second World War for German defensive works. Petten’s history therefore consists of several relocations and vanished phases of settlement, with the precise count depending on which sites are regarded as separate versions of Petten.
Nothing visible above ground can now be assigned with certainty to the first village. No foundation, church floor or gravestone marks its site. The probable location lies seaward of the present coast or beneath later coastal deposits. The Palendorp monument on the beach does not stand on the precise site of this oldest settlement either. It commemorates vanished Petten more generally and mainly evokes the later village pushed back by the sea.
The lost landscape becomes clearest when the present coast is no longer regarded as a permanent boundary. From the dunes, look towards the sea and imagine the shoreline farther west. Behind that former beach stood a church, fishermen’s houses and yards. Where waves now break and newly deposited sand protects the coast, the earliest known Petten once stood.
Further reading
- De drie PettensCanon van Nederland / Regionaal Archief Alkmaar
- Petten in de jaren 1200–1300Zijper Historie Bladen
- 600 jaar Sint-Elisabethsvloed en Heilig Bloed van BergenRegionaal Archief Alkmaar
- 1421: De Sint-Elisabethsvloed en de aanzet tot de Hondsbossche ZeeweringZijper Museum