Klerken is a village in

Province of West Flanders West Flanders ( nl, West-Vlaanderen ; vls, West Vloandern; french: (Province de) Flandre-Occidentale ; german: Westflandern ) is the westernmost Provinces of Belgium, province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian prov ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. It forms a part of the commune of in

Houthulst Houthulst (; vls, Oetulst, ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality consists of the sub-municipalities Houthulst, Jonkershove, Klerken and Merkem. On January 1, 2006, Houthulst had a total population ...

. It was first mentioned in a letter by Arnulphus the Elder from 961 and the village's archives survive from as early as 1653. Notable buildings include the Vredesmolen (a damaged

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

which is a war memorial) and the village's church of St Laurence (''Sint-Laurentiuskerk''). *

Cyriel Barbary Cyrillus-Camillus Barbary (4 August 1899 – 16 September 2004) was the last known Belgian veteran of the First World War. He was born in Klerken in West Flanders. He served on the Western Front in the (''2de Linieregiment'') for the last months ...

, the last surviving Belgian veteran of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, was born in Klerken.

External links

The Beauprez family page with the entire Klerken history.
t Rozenhof

Gazetteer Entry
Populated places in West Flanders Houthulst {{WestFlanders-geo-stub