In a field to the east of Nieuport there is a high, square tower,
part of a monastery and church erected by the Templars in the middle
of the twelfth century, which, though it escaped complete destruction,
was set on fire and nearly consumed when the town was attacked and
laid in ruins by the English and the burghers of Ghent in 1383,
the year of their famous siege of Ypres. It is now in a half-ruinous
condition, but in July, 1600, it was an important part of the
fortifications, and from the top the watchmen of the Spanish garrison
could see the country all round to a great distance beyond the
broad moat which then surrounded the strong walls of Nieuport.
A few miles inland, to the southwest, in the middle of the plain
of Flanders, were the houses of Furnes, grouped round the church
tower of St. Nicholas. To the north a wide belt of sandhills (the
'dunes'), with the sea beyond them, extended far past Ostend on
the east, and to the harbour of Dunkirk on the west. Nearer, on
the landward side of the dunes to the east, and within less than a
mile of each other, were the villages of Westende and Lombaerdzyde.
Close at hand, all round Nieuport, there were numerous small lakes
and watercourses connected with the channel of the Yser, which,
flowing past the town, widened out until it joined the sea, and
became a harbour, which on that morning was full of shipping.
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