The hamlet Westernijkerk, just north of the town of Marrum, was mentioned in 1560 as an independent parish in Ferwerderadeel next to e.g. “Federwert” (Ferwerd) and “Mareheim”(Marrum). Long before that, in 1431 to be precise, a man by the name of Willem, pastor at “Nyatzercka”, bore witness to the payment of peat to Jeppema for heating the church so we may assume that the hamlet was already a parish at that time.

Even though Westernijkerk -with it’s late 13th century built and to the Holy Virgin Maria dedicated church- once was a parish with it’s own pastors, there never has been an independent protestant congregation with a minister of it’s own. Shortly after 1580 a combination with the Reformed Congregation of Marrum came into effect which still exists these days although till 1951 the properties such as pastures were managed separately by each church. Also a number of Westernijkerk’s residents were supposed to be deacons in the church council of Marrum.

In comparison to Marrum relatively few people were buried at the churchyard of Westernijkerk. In fact, with some frequency the records of Marrum show “buried at Nijkerk” being the neighbouring hamlet Westernijkerk. It is known that in 1798 the churchyard of Westernijkerk was “reorganized” at which occasion a new record was introduced by Willem Koenraads Meister, schoolteacher at Marrum. However and unfortunately: the records covering the period before 1926 have gone lost.

The next two pages contain information about the burials as from 1926 - 2002. The names of the deceased are spelled the same way as mentioned in the original records. For this reason the spelling may differ as to the same name mentioned in the Civil Registration (e.g. Greydanus vs Greijdanus).

At the churchyard of Westernijkerk the “hoofdnummers” (row #) are mentioned both on the outside wall of the church and small poles along the side of the path. Please note: the “ondernummers” (grave #) of each row start at the churchwall increasing towards the path which is the opposite of the churchyard in Marrum.

Finally: the overviews include a picture of the gravestone of 125 deceased.

Andries Dijkstra
October 2003.
 

Akkerman - Jongboom

Kalma - Zoodsma

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Pictures: Klaas Leen

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