Keinsmer wheel
The West Frisian Omringdijk dates back to the thirteenth century, but at that time people did not yet have the manpower, organization, and resources to build a strong dike. As a result, the dike often broke during storm surges. The inflowing water was sometimes so strong that it washed out a meter-deep whirlpool. We call such a whirlpool a 'wiel'. We are standing here at the Keinsmerwiel, which is named after the nearby village of Keinse. It measures 200 by 200 metre.
The Keinsmerwiel was so deep that it could not be filled in. A new section of dike had to be built around it. This caused the originally straight Omringdijk to become winding. Such sudden bends can be found in several places. The cause is usually a centuries-old dike breach.
The Keinsmerwiel was created by a dike breach between 1200 and 1597. That year, the Zijpe was permanently reclaimed. The Zijpe was a long, sandy basin that was openly connected to the Zuiderzee. Attempts had already been made to diked the area – for the first time in 1552 – but on two occasions the dikes were destroyed by storm surges.
Up to Keinse (arrow on the map), the Omringdijk was now protected by the Zijpepolder, but east of the village, the dike still faced the sea. This did not last long, because in 1610 the Wieringerwaard polder was drained. From Krabbendam to Kolhorn, the Omringdijk (red line) was no longer a sea dike: almost twenty kilometre. This saved the water boards enormous maintenance costs.
Four water boards managed the West Frisian Omringdijk. The two water boards located to the west, the Geestmerambacht and the Schager- en Niedorper Koggen, benefited from the land reclamation projects. The reclamation of the Zijpe (green), Wieringerwaard (red), Heerhugowaard (yellow), Schermer (blue), and later the Waard and Groet (light blue) meant that their section of the Omringdijk was no longer threatened by large bodies of water.
In 1519, when Keinse was still located by the sea, a chapel dedicated to Mary was founded near the village. It contained a statue of Mary that had washed ashore a few years earlier. Soon, a veritable cult of veneration arose. Stories circulated about prayers that Mary had answered, and the water from the well was said to have healing properties. This was also the time when Protestantism was on the rise. In 1566, the Iconoclastic Fury broke out. The chapel did not escape: it was destroyed in 1586. The current building dates from 1956 and is located on the Omringdijk.
The statue of Mary had been missing since the chapel was destroyed, until a family from Heerhugowaard brought a wooden statue, an heirloom, to the Westfries Museum in the 1990s. It is still there today. It is impossible to say whether this is the Mary of Keinse, but some people are certain it is. They point to the power that the15th-century statue radiates, an energy that is present on so-called ley lines. The chapel and the well are located at a junction of such lines.