Wierdijk Hippolytushoef - Hippolytushoef

The Wierdijk marks the transition between the old, undulating Wieringen and the sharp lines of the younger Waard-Nieuwland polder. A dyke built of seagrass (or: wier) is a rarity in the Netherlands. Additionally, the Wierdijk is a special ecological area. Only here does the slender thistle still grow, a little plant that no longer exists anywhere else in the Netherlands. That is why the dyke has been declared a provincial monument.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, wier fishermen collected seagrass from the Wadden Sea. Once on land, the wier was dried, washed in fresh water and pressed into bales of about 50 kilos. These were then used, layer by layer, to build this dyke as protection against the water of the former Zuiderzee.

When you walk up the dyke, you can see this construction and discover how the dyke was gradually built. You can also enjoy a beautiful view and see, in one glance, how two worlds come together.

On one side lies old Wieringen, formed by the land ice of thousands of years ago. The hills of boulder clay, winding roads and scattered farms tell the story of a landscape that moved for centuries with both nature and people. This was the terrain of Viking treasures and ancient trade routes, of duck decoys and authentic farms with characteristic black wooden facades.

On the other side lies the younger polder land: tightly parceled, with straight roads and functional ditches. Here, in the 20th century, the enormous work of land consolidation and water management began. That didn’t go smoothly, by the way. Only after three attempts to drain the area did the water really stay away. Then came a reallotment, which ensured that farmers no longer had to cross each other’s land and could work more efficiently.

Photo: ©Stichting Nautisch Erfgoed Wieringen