Griend

Griend
Waters	North Sea
Archipelago	West Frisian Islands
Geographical location	53 ° 15 ′ N , 5 ° 15 ′ E Coordinates: 53 ° 15 ′ N , 5 ° 15 ′ E
Residents	uninhabited

Flock of birds between bird keeper's house (stilt house) and beacon

Griend on a map by the French geographer Guillaume Delisle , published in Amsterdam in 1743 after an original in Paris from 1702

Griend (historically also Grind , Gryn or Grynde ) is an uninhabited island in the West Frisian Wadden Sea about 18 kilometers east of the Dutch island of Vlieland and a good 12 kilometers northwest of the Dutch city of Harlingen . Administratively, the island belongs to the territory of the municipality of Terschelling . Griend is the highest point on the Ballastplaat, a mudflat between the islands of Vlieland and Terschelling and the Dutch mainland. It has a length of two kilometers with a width of only a few hundred meters and is about 82 hectares in size at normal floods.

history

The island was inhabited in the Middle Ages , on it was a fortified settlement called Stedeke Gryn , which was expanded by Siard von Mariengaarde around 1220 into a city protected by moats and ramparts, which also had a university and a monastery. At the beginning of the 13th century, Griend was a prosperous island due to flourishing trade with the hinterland, especially famous for its cheese. The island became smaller and smaller due to constant coastal breaks, and some canals that were carelessly created by the inhabitants contributed to the erosion. The settlement was finally almost completely destroyed by the Lucia flood in December 1287 . Until the eighteenth century, Griend was only inhabited by a few farmers who had built their houses on terps . By 1800 Griend was only about 25 hectares in size and moving at a speed of 7 meters per year in a south-easterly direction. The residents had already left the island by that time. Due to the migration of the unpaved island, existing buildings went under over time.

After the previous inhabitants had left it, the island was used by the inhabitants of Terschelling as pasture for their sheep and for haymaking. The eggs of gulls and terns were also collected there for consumption. In 1916 the Vereniging Natuurmonumenten bought the grazing rights and tried to combat egg theft by monitoring the bird colonies.

Griend today

Today Griend is a Dutch nature reserve and not open to the public. Today there are no other buildings on Griend apart from the pile building , which is only inhabited by the Vogelwart and the beacon , which serves both as a directional sign and as a rescue station. Today's island of Griend is now in a completely different position than it was in the Middle Ages. The island, which is now uninhabited apart from one or two bird observatories, is more of a sandbank only a few meters above sea level on the Ballastplaat with the corresponding flora and fauna.

Since Griend is not protected by dikes, the island is still slowly migrating eastwards. To protect the island from further land loss, some dams were built on the southern edge. Around 1988 the island was strengthened by the construction of a low sand dike along the north side, since then the erosion has stopped and the area of the island is slowly growing again.

nature

Numerous species of seabirds breed on the flat island; Griend u. a. the largest sandwich tern colony in Western Europe. Every year more than 10,000 breeding pairs breed on the island. Furthermore Griend is also a breeding ground for terns , terns , eiders , shelduck , oystercatchers , redshank , black-headed gulls , gulls , herring gulls , black-backed gulls and herring gulls . Black-headed gulls and short-eared owls also breed here occasionally . Since the sand dike was built, the island has also been inhabited by wood mice .

Individual evidence

↑ J. van Leeuven, It aade Friesche terp of Kronyk the Geschiedenissen van de Vrye Friesen, Leeuwarden, 1834: "Omtrent the Jaare 1220 is Gryn [...] door Siardus, mogelyk Sierd Siersma, Dept. van Lidlum, met surge gragten en voorzien, en tot een stad gemaakt; alwaar ook een schoole van leerdheid of Academie wierd sticht. "
↑ J. van Leeuven, It aade Friesche terp of Kronyk der Geschiedenissen van de Vrye Friesen, Leeuwarden, 1834: "In den jaare 1287 waayde het zo een weldige stormwind dat alle de dyken rondom Friesland doorbraaken waar door kerken en huizen wegspoelden. Van het stedeke Gryn bleeven geen 10 huizen staan en het getal der verdronkene Menschen was wel 80000. "

[1] J. van Leeuven, It aade Friesche terp of Kronyk the Geschiedenissen van de Vrye Friesen, Leeuwarden, 1834: "Omtrent the Jaare 1220 is Gryn [...] door Siardus, mogelyk Sierd Siersma, Dept. van Lidlum, met surge gragten en voorzien, en tot een stad gemaakt; alwaar ook een schoole van leerdheid of Academie wierd sticht. "

[2] J. van Leeuven, It aade Friesche terp of Kronyk der Geschiedenissen van de Vrye Friesen, Leeuwarden, 1834: "In den jaare 1287 waayde het zo een weldige stormwind dat alle de dyken rondom Friesland doorbraaken waar door kerken en huizen wegspoelden. Van het stedeke Gryn bleeven geen 10 huizen staan en het getal der verdronkene Menschen was wel 80000. "