Visvliet: Steen- en Buizenfabriek "De Hoop"

 

Illustrated cover of the steam driven brickworks in Visvliet (Groningen) to the neighbouring village of Grijpskerk (7-5-1917) franked by a 5c Wilhelmina Bontkraag.

After a way too lengthy pause in posting on this blog (I'm sorry for that!) I tend to resume my writing activities again. The focus will still be on Dutch philately in general but I might discuss foreign philately more often. Let's see where the restart of this blog will lead me.

I will embark on this new philatelic journey way up in the north of the Netherlands - in the rural province of Groningen. The small village of Visvliet used to be a prosperous and populated town due to its connection via the Lauwers river to the Waddenzee and North Sea. During the mid 1800s the economic activity slowed down as local entrepreneurs could not really compete with foreign and interlocal businesses which literally overshadowed the small businesses in Visvliet. Of course this negative outcome of the Industrial Revolution applied to all of Europe and is still visible today. 

The brickworks in Visvliet tried to survive and outlive its industrialised competitors until 1919 when it finally closed. In its final days the company used this attractive photograph on its covers for advertisement purposes. The same photo was used as picture postcard. The company extracted clay from the opposite bank of the Lauwers river and it used a pram (type of ship) to bring the clay to the kiln (not visible here). The sheds on the photo were used to dry the newly created bricks before they were fired.

The brickworks in Visvliet with the Lauwers river.

The closure in 1919 resulted in a lay-off of approx. 20 men personel and the grounds of the brickworks were not redeveloped until the 1960s when a camping opened on the site. I do not think there is a business/institute left in Visvliet anno 2023 with over 10 men employees (bare the local school perhaps) but I'm happy to be proven wrong. To give an idea on the population decline: in 1909 the village counted  over 400 souls-  in 2021 only 280 remained.

No structures remain in situ so the history of the company seems almost forgotten save the photo and this cover. It's a shame no photo of the actual kiln seems to have survived. 

Distance Visvliet to Grijpskerk with the city of Groningen to the east and the Lauwerszee to the north.

Visvliet and Grijpskerk with the brickworks in red frame. The Lauwers river streams from south to north.

The old bridge crossing the Lauwers. Already in medieval times the Lauwers acted as de facto border between Friesland and Groningen.