The beginning of Brabant
“You are at the edge of the former Schakerloo, now often referred to as Oudeland. Have a walk round, and take a look at the cemetery, where the church stood, until it was destroyed by the Beggars in 1572.
Schakerloo was one of the five islands that together formed the island of Tholen. The polder was probably diked off in the 11th century. The oldest entry is in a charter of 1212. In this Charter, Henry I, Duke of Brabant, pledges Schakerloo and Ossendrecht to Godfried II of Breda, along with half of the toll on the Striene and the Scheldt. He keeps the other half for himself. In 1220, Count William I of Holland and Zeeland, who was married to the daughter of the duke, accepted a pledge of half of Schakerloo; he later also acquired the other half. That is how this area eventually became part of Zeeland.
In 1220, or shortly thereafter, the Striene was dammed and the Fifteen-hundred-metre-polder diked off. The Striene would subsequently have been filled in further, after which the toll was moved to the dike along the Eendracht, where the later town of Tholen arose.
The bridge
It would still be a long time before the tram would be able to run into Tholen itself. For decades, attempts were made to bridge the river Eendracht before a final decision was taken to do so. Construction of the bridge started in 1927. On the Tholen side, however, a lot of work was needed to make room in the city for the tram line.