Firdgum - Koehool | Klooster Claercamppad pilgrimage trail: Circular walk 3

The first farmers settled here in the Middle Ages. They were drawn to the area by the Wadden Sea and the salt marsh at Firdgum made it possible for them to survive here. At the Archaeological Resource Centre you can see a reconstruction of a medieval turf house that shows how these farmers must have lived in the 5th century CE.  

Another structure that will immediately catch your eye is the narrow 13th-century church tower at Firdgum. The church itself was demolished in 1794 because the building was structurally unsound but the narrow tower was preserved. The large bricks used to build the tower were made from sea clay and are known as ‘kloostermoppen’ or ‘monastery bricks’. These were often produced in wood-fired kilns by the larger monasteries.   

Today the village of Firdgum consists of a cluster of houses. There were once a couple of large country houses here but Camstra State is the only one that has been partly preserved. The walk starts and finishes on Camstrawei road. 

The monasteries in this area, such as the one built at Lidlum in 1182, were founded after the first defensive dikes had been constructed. But monks helped repair and strengthen the existing flood defences and drain coastal land to create farmland.  

You descend from Firdgum to the sea dike near Westhoek and then walk along the green sea dike towards the hamlet of Koehool, where there was once a lock. 

This circular walk is part of the Klooster Claercamppad pilgrimage trail.