Veurne

Veurne lies in the low country of western Flanders. It became a town in the twelfth century and was the centre of a castellany owing allegiance to the Count of Flanders. Trade with England flourished in the thirteenth century, but its interruption in 1270 was followed by a long economic decline. The Gothic church of Saint Walburga and the tower of Saint Nicholas belong to the medieval town's religious heritage.

Veurne and its neighbourhood suffered economic and religious turmoil between about 1566 and 1583. The town later benefited from agricultural growth in the surrounding castellany, and a number of its historic buildings date from the prosperous reign of Archdukes Albert and Isabella around 1600. A religious procession established in 1644 was developed by a confraternity in the following decades.