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Ledegem (Municipality, Province of West Flanders, Belgium)

Flag of Ledegem - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 6 May 2006

Presentation of Ledegem and its villages
Flag of Ledegem

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Presentation of Ledegem and its villages

The municipality of Ledegem (9,379 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 2476 ha; municipal website) is located 10 km west of Kortrijk, 10 km south of Roeselare and 5 km north of Menen and the border with France. The municipality was established in 1976 as the merger of the former municipalities of Ledegem (4,018 inh.; 1,116 ha), Rollegem-Kapelle (1,471 inh.; 483 ha), and Sint-Eloois-Winkel (3,754 inh.; 876 ha).

Ledegem was mentioned for the first time in 1111 as Lidingim, meaning "Litol's estate". In the Middle Ages, the domain of Ledegem was divided into several smaller domains such as Ter Hulst, Van Emstrode and Oosthove; these toponyms still exist in Ledegem. Until the 20th century, Ledegem remained a rural village, growing grains, especially oats, tobacco and flax. Clothmaking existed in Ledegem until the late 20th century.

Rollegem-Kapelle originates from a piece of land given in 1213 by Hendrik van Moorslede to Willem van Rollegem where a chapel, a cemetery and a house for the chaplain was built. The hexagonal chapel was located in the middle of the woods. The chapel was increased in 1630 and was added a turret; it was rebuilt in 1760 and suppressed in 1909 in order to build today's church.

Sint-Eloois-Winkel was in the past a rural hamlet located in the north of the parish of Gullegem. A chapel dedicated to St. Eligius already existed in 1382 and was known as the Winckel-Capelle. In 1741, Jean-Baptiste Mulle de Terschueren, owner of the domain of Sint-Eloois, obtained from the Bishop of Tournai the separation of the hamlet of Winckel-Capelle (then with 1,286 inhabitants) from Gullegem. The Mulle de Terschueren family funded the building of the church of the newly made parish. However, the civil ruler of the parish remained the lord of Gullegem until the French Revolution. A Decree of the 24 Prairial of the Year III (12 June 1795) made of Winkel-Cappelle a municipality.

Ivan Sache, 6 May 2006

Flag of Ledegem

The flag of Ledegem is quartered:
1. A yellow axe on a black field;
2. A red chevron on a white field and a black martlet in each "quarter";
3. Three green turf sods on a white field;
4. A yellow saltire on a red field.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel [w2v02], the flag and arms, adopted on 3 December 1981 by the Municipal Council, are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 5 March 1985 by the Executive of Flanders and published on 8 July 1986 in the Belgian gazette.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms.

Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 6 May 2006