Stuivekenskerke is a district of the town of Diksmuide, in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Located on the Yser river, until 1970 it was an independent municipality and then merged and became a sub-municipality of Diksmuide. Stuivekenskerke, built in a polder, has an area of 7.34 km² and had 160 inhabitants in 2007. History Early and medieval history In Roman times, the area consisted of mudflats and salt marshes, and already had a human presence. Floods coming in from the North Sea in the 4th century, and gradual flooding of the coastal area, rendered the area unfit for habitation. In 1161, the Norbertines of Vicoigne in Raismes became the owners of a sheepfold on a slightly elevated area surrounded by mudflats and marshes. This settlement would become a monastic domain, ; the area was encircled with dikes and became a fairly important center for sheep farming. Between 10 and 20 monks lived at the monastery, on a site 133 ha in size. The first mention of the place name is from 1219; it says "parochia de Stuvinskerke in loco qui Vatha dicitur" ("the parish of Stuvinskerke in the place called Vate"). The "-kerke" ending indicates that the name can only have come into existence after the christianization of the area, after the 11th century. The name supposedly comes from the Germanic "Stuvinas karika", or "Stuvin's church". Similar to other polder parishes, the name then comes from a local landowner, who founded a church and named it for himself. On 18 March 994, the parish of Vladslo had been bequeathed by Radbod, bishop of Noyon and Tournai, to Saint Peter's Abbey, Ghent, and that abbey had patronage over Stuivekenskerke until 1802. This gift was confirmed in 1111, in a text that indicated that Stuivekenskerke was one of the daughter parishes (along with Keiem, Leke, Beerst, and Schore) that came from the mother parish Vladslo. Saint Peter was the patron saint. The Stuivekenskerke parish, though west of the Yser, was part of the Diocese of Tournai until 1559, when it was transferred to the Diocese of Bruges; neighboring villages on that side of the river belonged first to the Diocese of Thérouanne, and then to the Diocese of Ypres. Under French rule During the Ancien Régime, Stuivekenskerke belonged to the viscounty Veurne-Ambacht. In the vicinity of Tervate and Stuivekenskerke, small fortifications were built by the Spaniards at the end of the