Good News 😊.
The funds for the restoration have been raised!
At the latest Family Meeting, I gave a presentation on Mr. Nicolaas Cornelis Lambrechtsen, Lord of Ritthem. He is an ancestor of all family members who have two cc’s in their stake. He is also my ancestor. For the same Family Meeting, Jos Lambrechtsen, the current lord of Ritthem, and I had submitted a grant application to cover the costs of restoring the grave.
Mr Lambrechtsen lived from 1752 to 1823. The grave is therefore more than 200 years old and in need of restoration. You have decided in favour of our application. We are very grateful to the family for this. A condition for the payment of the grant was that the Lambrechtsen family would also contribute sufficiently. I am pleased to inform you that this has been done. More than that, in fact. The Lambrechtsen family has also contributed very generously.
Restoration has started
Last August, we had raised the necessary funds, and recently, on 18 September, the restoration work started.
First, the contractor removed the fence. It will be made rustproof, restored and repainted in its original colours: black with silver-coloured knobs.
The next step is to lift the gravestones. This will be an exciting undertaking: one gravestone is in three pieces. The others have cracks.
There is another reason why this will be exciting. After the lecture last January, we discovered that the grave is a family grave. When designing the grave, Mr Lambrechtsen also took his two sisters-in-law into account: Hillegonda and Johanna Schorer (he was married to Maria Petronella Schorer). To date, we have not been able to determine whether the ladies are actually buried there, as their names are not on the gravestones. The Zeeland archives were also unable to provide us with an answer. The only way to find out is to look inside the grave when it is opened. As this has yet to be done, I hope to be able to provide you with an answer at the Family Meeting on 10 January 2026.
To be continued!
Kind regards,
Also on behalf of Jos Lambrechtsen
Nicoline Beck
0 comments