Koudekerke - in the Zeeuws Koukerke - is a village located on the island of Walcheren in the municipality of Veere. It was also the name of a municipality that existed from 1811 to mid 1966. Koudekerke has about 3500 inhabitants and is therefore the largest village of the municipality. There are relatively many parents and seniors living. The village has a traditional connection with the seaside Dishoek.
Koudekerke was founded around 1067 near three Vliedbergen. It is like almost all villages on Walcheren on a creek back. It is a typical church ring village, with buildings in a ring around the church and around a regular ring of streets. The shape of the village square still reminds us of the old Gothic church that used to be here.
In the 17th century, Middelburg, the second commercial and port city of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, was a bloom period and appeared around Koudekerke's various outlying sites, of which Ter Hooge and Huis der Boede are the main ones still existing.
During the Second World War, German occupiers at Koudekerke set up a landfront as part of the Atlantic Wall. Today, many bunkers and tankers still remember this period.
After the war, Koudekerke was the ideal village for De Schelde workers to live. As a result, the village has grown rapidly. Even today, there are still many parents, although there are still a lot of original Koudekerkenars. Cold walker is also called moppenvreters, or vuulte ("weed"), although the latter can be regarded as a bad word.
Koudekerke has thirteen entries in the national register, including the 17th century neogothic Michaels church in the village square and the Lelie corn and mill mill at the eastern side of the village. The Plompe Tower also attracts a lot of publicity.
