At last, a church building to be proud of

The churchwardens of the Eilandschurch must have been proud when, on 9 December 1736, the minister Cornelis van Rhijn (1683–1745) climbed the pulpit for the first time. After years of waiting, the wooden Eilands-Loost on Bickerseiland had been replaced by a stone church building. Four of the churchwardens made sure this historic event did not pass unnoticed: they had their names and coats of arms painted on this large wooden churchwardens board. Being a churchwarden was generally considered an honorary position, a role that only the burgomasters could bestow. Once appointed, a churchwarden was responsible for the income and expenditures needed to maintain the church building. In return for this considerable work, they enjoyed the use of a private pew and a well-appointed churchwardens’ room.

A church for millers, ship-woodcarvers, and carpenters

Most Amsterdam churchwardens obtained their funds through the sale of graves and the rental of pews. For most churches in the city this system worked well, but the Eilandschurch turned out to be an exception.

The gravedigger of the Eilandschurch had the habit of noting the occupation of every person he buried. We find names such as Aafje van Molen De Buijs, Abraham the ship’s biscuit baker, and Cornelis the ship’s woodcarver. Many members of this congregation worked at shipyards or in the surrounding mills. People in these trades generally did not purchase their own graves but were buried in rented ones. Nor did they rent expensive seats in the baptistery or in one of the gentlemen’s pews; instead, they sat in the free seating at the back of the church.

Struggling for a steady income

Years after the church was brought into use, fewer than one-third of the pews had been rented out, and grave sales lagged behind. Consequently, the churchwardens had very little income to maintain the building, as evidenced by the many letters they sent to the burgomasters requesting additional funds. The Eilandskerk managed to endure for two hundred years, until the building was closed in 1939 and demolished eleven years later. The remaining members of the congregation moved to the Noorderkerk, taking the 1737 churchwardens’ board with them.