Drongen Abbey

The Normans destroyed the abbey in 853 but under Baldwin II, Count of Flanders (879–918), lord of Drongen, it was rebuilt.

[1] In 1136 Iwein, Count of Aalst, lord of Waas, Drongen and Liedekerke, founded a Premonstratensian abbey at Salegem (Vrasene, Beveren).

Two years later, in 1138, the new abbey was moved to Drongen, when the canons accepted the Premonstratensian rules.

Lieven Bauwens installed a cotton mill, which went bankrupt in 1836, and a dyeworks using madder root.

[1] The octagonal abbey church in white stone, with a small cupola, was rebuilt in 1734 after a fire.