Dokkum

Boniface, the Anglo-Saxon missionary who had spent decades converting the Germanic peoples and reorganising the Frankish church, came north to Frisia in 754 and was killed with about fifty companions near Dokkum by a local group - whether for religion or for the chests they were carrying is argued about, and the eleventh-century sources are not neutral. He became one of the major saints of northern Europe and Dokkum became a pilgrimage site; the Bonifatiuskapel, built in 1934 in a park with a spring and a processional route, marks it and still draws an annual pilgrimage. The town itself is a compact moated settlement with a complete seventeenth-century bastioned rampart, two windmills standing on the walls, a canal through the middle and a small centre. It is one of the eleven cities of the Elfstedentocht and the northernmost point of the route.

History

The best-known event in Dokkum's history is the death of the missionary Saint Boniface here in 754. The town gained city rights in 1298, the Admiralty of Friesland was based here from 1597 until it moved to Harlingen in 1645, and in 1971 the old town became a protected conservation area (Wikipedia, Dokkum).

Highlights

• Where Boniface was killed - the 754 murder site, with a 1934 chapel and a spring.
• A complete rampart circuit - seventeenth-century bastions walked all the way round.
• Two windmills on the walls - standing on the ramparts above the town.
• An Elfstedentocht city - the northernmost point of the eleven-city skating route.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Things to know

The motive for the 754 killing is genuinely disputed and the medieval sources are partisan. The town is small - a day is generous. Mills open on limited days. Public transport is by bus.

Nearby

Lauwersmeer is east; Leeuwarden is south-west.

Key facts