Ruiselede (Municipality, Province of West Flanders, Belgium)

Last modified: 2008-04-05 by ivan sache
Keywords: ruiselede | zigzag (red) |
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Municipal flag of Ruiselede - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 1 November 2007

• Presentation of Ruiselede
• Municipal flag of Ruiselede

See also:

• Belgium
• Province of West Flanders: Municipal flags
• Belgium: Municipal flags

Presentation of Ruiselede

The municipality of Ruiselede (5,139 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 3,020 ha) is located 20 km west of Ghent, on the border between West and East Flanders.

Ruiselede was mentioned for the first time in 1106, when Bishop of Tournai Baldricus transferred the church of Rusleda to the St. Bertinus abbey in Saint-Omer. Rusleda is a toponym of Germanic origin, meaning "a watercourse or a hillside covered with reeds".
In the Middle Ages, the village of Ruslede depended of the the court of Oudburg in Ghent; it was probably originally named Axpoele, after the castle of Axpoele, the seat of a domain that spread from Beernem to the village of Poeke. The Poeke family bore the title of barons of Poeke and Lords of Axpoele.

Source: Municipal website

The radio station of Ruiselede is located in the Gulke Putten domain, today a nature reserve (69 ha), member of the European "Natura 2000" network. The station has been continuously used since 1923. The masts and transmission buildings, once used to set up communications with America and Central Africa, were registered on the national heritage list in 1999. Originally owned by the RTT (Régie des Télégraphes et des Téléphones, founded in 1930) and its successor, Belgacom (founded in 1991), the station was transferred to the Belgian Army in 2001.

Ivan Sache, 1 November 2007

Municipal flag of Ruiselede

The municipal flag of Ruiselede is horizontally divided white-black, with a red zigzag in the white stripe.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 27 September 1985, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 2 December 1985 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 8 July 1986.
The flag is a quasi banner of the municipal arms, the chief having been increased in height so that the two horizontal stripes are of equal width.

According to Servais, the arms of Ruiselede were originally granted by Royal Decree on 28 August 1847. They are derived from the arms of the lords of Axpoele, owners of most of the village in the XIIIth century.

Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 1 November 2007