On the wall of the Poldermuseum in Tolhuisstraat 10-16 in Lillo hangs the coat of arms of the former village Wilmarsdonk.
"Official blazon
Of laurice loaded with a St. Laurentius, holding in his right hand a laurel branch and shrouded on the right side of a grill, all of gold.
Origin / meaning
The arms were granted on October 6, 1819.
The arms show the local patron saint, Saint Lawrence, and are based on the old seals of the council.
The colors are the Dutch national colors, as in1813 the mayor applied without indicating the colors. The arms were thus granted in the national colors. After the Belgian independence, the colors were not changed."
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"Wilmarsdonk is a disappeared Belgian polder village north of the city of Antwerp. In the sixties it was evacuated when it had to take place for the expansion of the port of Antwerp. In 1966 the last remains of the village were demolished, only the Gothic tower of St. Laurentius church remained.
The territory of the former municipality of Wilmarsdonk (together with that of the former municipalities of Oorderen and Oosterweel) forms part of the district of Antwerp under the zip code 2030.
The site was first mentioned in Eckern in 1155 in the records of St. Michael's abbey and was annexed by Antwerp in 1929. It was located on a sandy dike and was connected to Oorderen by the Oordeedijk.
The infamous battle at Ekeren on 30 June 1703, between the armies of the Two Crowns (France and Spain) and the armies of allies (the Republic and England) took place between Muisbroek (Ekeren) and Wilmarsdonk Oorderen.
The following types of archives were found in the various archives: Wilmardunc, Wilmarsdunc, Wilmarsdonc, Wilmaersdonck, Wilmaersdonc, Wilmerdonck, Willemerdonck, Wilmersdonck, Wilmarsdonck and Wilmarsdonk.
The inhabitants of Wilmarsdonk were also known under their nickname "mushrooms". This name is from an Antwerp patrician genus Paddebuc, whose first name is Wilmarus Paddebuc, the surname Wilmaers. Of the Wilmaers family there have been many ships from the city of Antwerp and they had a lot of land in the north of Antwerp. This is probably the origin of the name Wilmarsdonk.
The church tower of Wilmarsdonk, as well as that of Oosterweel, remained for the benefit of the surveyors, during the expansion work at the antwerp port in the sixties. At that time, there were no satellites yet, churches were beacons where one had the exact coordinates of staff cards in the survey. Due to their location relative to the church leaders, land surveyors could easily turn off their beacons for carrying out the planned works."
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