I hadn’t expected too much from Schokland (or rather I had expected that it would be a shock), but in reality when we visited it during our tour of the Netherlands we found it to be quite a pleasant place. We arrived there at 10.30 a.m. from the road that passes in the middle of the former island, parked at the museum parking and realised that the Middelburt village is opened only from 11 a.m. (a typically too short Dutch opening time - it closes at 5 p.m.). Even if great part of this village is visible from outside (in particular from the southern side, where the imposing stone and wooden dykes built against the sea are located), as it is really incredibly small, we decided to visit it later in the morning to better appreciate the history of Schokland. So we decided to have a stroll around the island to see the other terps.

It is really a pleasant walk, even if in the space that separates the terps there is really nothing to see - just fields and fields wherever you look. The first interesting feature one notes is the difference of level (about one meter I think) between the island and the surrounding landscape, that once was the sea bottom and that was subsequently drained as part of the Noordoostpolder in 1942, when Schokland ceased to be an island and became in this infinite flat agricultural territory a sort of hill, that is however situated three metres below the normal sea level. Then you realise that the path on which you are walking is covered by thousands of shells, as if you were on a sea beach. Finally we arrived to the terp Zuidert, that, as Middelburt, appears from the distance just as a hill, “a hill on the hill”. On the top of this there is nothing else remaining from the village than a water well and a small wooden building (it is not clear if it is original or reconstructed, as it is not for many other structures on Schokland).

Much more interesting is the terp Zuidpunt: here you can see only one structure, but this quite impressed me as it is strange to see such a big and old building in comparison with the others, that date mainly to the 18th and19th centuries, on Schokland. It is a big Gothic church (with tower) of the 14th century, of which only the imposing foundations remain. It is interesting to note that there is a sort of “church in church”, the foundations of an earlier building situated inside its perimeter. Near the church, below the terp, on the southernmost point on the island, you can see the interesting foundations of a lighthouse, which is just a small circle. Instead of all that walking you can also arrive by car to this place on a road running outside the island and park there but in this way you won’t be able to see Zuidert.

Then we returned in a freezing wind to Middelburt and entered the village. This consist only of some small lovely coloured wooden houses disposed in a semicircle around a relatively big brick reformed church with a nice sober interior situated on the top of the hill and some foundations of what seem to be cisterns. In the houses is situated the Schokland Museum, that quite enlightened me about the history of the island. It contains archaeological and paleontological finds from the island and the dried bottom of the sea, photos, models and reconstructions of the former appearance of the island. In particular I understood why also the surroundings of Schokland are inscribed on the WHL. This area was once part of the island, that was much bigger and in the Middle Ages was even a peninsula linked to the mainland, but it was eroded by the sea so much that finally in 1859 the inhabitants were evacuated; on the former medieval dry land were found many dykes and foundations of terps, as well as prehistoric settlements, that however are invisible for the common visitor.

Finally we decided to arrive by car to the last terp, Oud Emmeloord, on a road that flanks externally the island and crosses it in its northern part. It is certainly the biggest and most important terp and the hill appears even from a great distance. Here, protected by wooden dykes, stands the lighthouse with its brick keeper’s house and an another wooden buildings. Impressive is the former port, quite big and well protected by dykes, with wooden pillars at its entrance. There is still some water here that recreates the original appearance of the port, which is typically Dutch, but much more desolated than the today’s lively mainland ports.

Our visit was far from being disappointing, however I think that it was exaggerated to include Schokland on the WHL. It is a symbol of the Dutch struggle against the sea but here it is the sea to have dominated the situation, with the men just building villages to be protected against it. There are much better symbols of the struggle against the sea on the List, such as the Woudagemaal and the mills of Kinderdijk, which are great technical achievements where the action of man is much more noteworthy and where it is the man who controls the water. It should be noted that it couldn’t be inscribed preferably as a good example of a landscape of terps because there are much more important and preserved terps in the northern Netherlands and Germany.