Location: North Holland Map
Heemskerk is a small historic town situated in a province of North Holland in Netherlands. It is famous for numerous medieval structures as well as military fortification known as Fort Veldhuis that was constructed in the late 19th century. Heemskerk is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of North Holland about 22 km northwest of Amsterdam. The center is located about six kilometers east of the North Sea coast, eleven kilometers west of Zaanstad, three kilometers north of Beverwijk and 14 kilometers south of Alkmaar. The municipality consists of the homonymous city Heemskerk and from the districts Heemskerkerduin, Waterakkers, Noorddorp, Assumburg, De Maer and Zuidbroek. On August 31, 2017, it had 39,092 inhabitants and an area of 27.43 km ², of which 1.11 km ² consists of water surfaces. The highest point is a 25 meter high dune in the well five kilometers wide and partially wooded dune belt between the North Sea beach and the town center.
The first traces of habitation in Heemskerk date from a few centuries before the beginning of our era. During excavations at Jan Ligthartstraat in 2004 footprints and wells were found.
It is not
possible to say with certainty where the name Heemskerk comes from.
Heemskerk was already known in the Middle Ages. In an official
document from the year 1063 she was mentioned as "Hemezen Kyrica",
Latinized Frisian for "Church of Hemezen", a Frisian nun who is said
to have a monastery there.
Heemskerk has many historical
monuments, including the Huldtoneel, an artificial hill on what is
now the Rijksstraatweg, where the Counts of Holland were once
inaugurated. Tradition has it that the Huldtoneel was already set up
as a Germanic holy place before Roman times. In the 19th century,
Jonkheer Gevers eventually turned the Huldtoneel into a monument -
as we know it today - and ordered passers-by to respect the
monument.
Heemskerk has also been a battleground on many
occasions. There used to be six castles in Heemskerk. Two castles -
Oud Haerlem Castle and Heemskerk Castle - were built in the 12th and
13th centuries to protect the County of Holland against the West
Frisians. Assumburg Castle also originally dates from this time.
There is nothing left of Oud Haerlem Castle, Castle Merestein,
Castle Rietwijk, and Castle Poelenburg (shown on a map from 1728).
In the 14th century, the Siege of Heemskerk took place in
1358-1359 and in the 15th century the inhabitants of Oud Haerlem
Castle and Heemskerk Castle faced each other during the Hoekse and
Kabeljauwse disputes. Both castles were destroyed. Oud Haerlem was
no longer rebuilt, but Castle Heemskerk was. In 1492, in the
cemetery of the current Reformed Church, the Revolt of the Cheese
and Bread People was bloody suppressed by the Austrian rulers.
In 1610, the Heemskerk Castle was named Castle Marquette and was
subsequently inhabited first by many nobles and later mainly by
patricians. Last known noble residents were of the house of Gevers.
Castle Marquette is currently owned by the Spanish hotel group NH
Hoteles.
Slot Assumburg is located on the east side of
Heemskerk. It was renovated in 1546. Demolition material from Oud
Haerlem Castle was used. The castle has been a noble residence for
many centuries. A great number of different sexes have lived there.
After 1867 the castle remained uninhabited. Since 1911 it has been
owned by the State, and in 1933 the Assumburg was used as a youth
hostel.
The Village Church of the
Protestant Congregation Heemskerk, at Kerkplein 1, dates from 1628,
but has a medieval tower from the 13th century. The (public)
cemetery around the church contains a copy of the obelisk in honor
of the father of the painter Maarten van Heemskerck.
The
Roman Catholic St. Laurentius Church, designed by architect J.H.
Tonnaer, was completed in 1891 and is a rare example of a
neo-renaissance catholic church.
After the Middle Ages, Heemskerk remained as a small
quiet village at the foot of the dunes. The inhabitants, who mainly
found a living in agriculture, horticulture and livestock farming, lived
through good times, but also many very bad times.
It is said that
from the time that the products - often strawberries destined for
Beverwijk, where the fruits were traded - were brought to the market
with donkeys, the people of Heemskerk got the donkey as a nickname and
symbol.
However, this version is not based on truth as there is
no evidence of this, there is not a single picture available of a donkey
with a wagon, which is the most logical explanation for the nickname
donkeys, and in all probability the most based on the truth is that :
The remark that Heemskerkers are donkeys was made in 1873 during a
council meeting by the then mayor, Hermanus Zaalberg. This concerned a
dispute between B en W and the city council about, among other things,
the street lighting.
The following is a portion of the newspaper
article about the council meeting in question:
Swell in the
council chamber;
Mayor calls citizens 'ASSES'. Heemskerkers: stingy
and narrow-minded. Heemskerk 4 October 1873 -
Completely
unexpected and actually also out of order, mayor H. Zaalberg, following
up on the recently published provincial report on the improvement of
livestock farms, launched a fierce attack at the end of the council
meeting on the stubborn obstinacy of his villagers. He even compared
them to 'DONKEYS' and believed that there are not two of these animals
(imported from Beverwijk) in the municipality, but rather almost 1500...
In 1893 the Fort near Veldhuis was built near Heemskerk, part of the
Defense Line of Amsterdam. Now it is a museum.
Heemskerk retained this agricultural character until
around 1960 the municipality started to play a role in the industrial
development of the IJmond: Hoogovens (nowadays Tata Steel), Cemij,
MEKOG, Stork-Werkspoor. Much of it can still be found in the unique
horticultural area on the dune side of the Rijksstraatweg, the grounds
southwest of this road, which have largely remained agricultural areas.
The arrival of the Koninklijke Hoogovens caused a drastic change in
the population of IJmond and caused some over-enthusiastic expectations
here and there. For example, the municipality of Velsen published an
expansion plan for a city of 250,000 inhabitants. This plan was quickly
scrapped.
Beverwijk also made wild plans with a plan for a "Steel
City" of one hundred thousand inhabitants, made possible in part by a
merger with an unwilling Heemskerk. Both the 100,000 inhabitants and the
merger with Heemskerk later left the table. There are also three
industrial estates, De Houtwegen, the business park De Trompet along the
A9 and De Waterwegen, located along the Rijksstraatweg (formerly a
through road between Beverwijk and Castricum).
In the meadow
areas towards Uitgeest and Zaanstad, new residential areas have been
realized since 1965 to 2005, including Breedweer, de Maer, Beijerlust,
Waterakkers-Lunetten and Broekpolder.
The municipality of
Heemskerk started in 2005 to demolish flats from the fifties and sixties
in various places and replace them with modern apartments and low-rise
buildings. In addition, the sustainable business park De Trompet will be
further developed in the coming years. In addition to heat pumps and
solar energy, this business park also generates sustainable energy with
a 2 MW wind turbine that was installed in 2005. This windmill can be
seen from miles around due to the striking blue color (of the Heemskerk
municipal coat of arms).
Heemskerk has its own train station on the
Haarlem-Alkmaar line; another is in the neighboring town Uitgeest
between Alkmaar and Amsterdam. Past the community, the A9 runs with
junctions in Heemskerk, Beverwijk and Castricum. Schiphol
International Airport is 23 km south.
In the village, where a good many strawberries used to be
cultivated, agriculture plays practically no role, most of the
inhabitants commute to the big cities, in particular to the blast
furnaces of Corus in IJmuiden or to Amsterdam; others work in the
service sector or work in smaller industrial companies. Also there
are, because of the proximity to the North Sea, some hospitals.
Since the municipality itself has virtually no developed beach
section, tourism - in contrast to neighboring communities such as
Castricum - is not a significant economic factor.
The first written mention of the city took place in 1063. In the
12th and 13th centuries Heemskerk was the scene of many disputes
between West Frisians and the Count of Holland. There were also some
castles as a border fortress. The castle Heemskerk still exists as a
house Marquette. Also the Assumburg has been preserved. When the
IJmuiden blast furnaces began operation, the farming village began
its development to Trabantstadt.
Heemskerk is located on the west coast of North Holland, north of the
North Sea Canal. The municipality is part of the regions
Midden-Kennemerland, Kennemerland, Noorderkwartier, the IJmond COROP
area and the Hollands Noorderkwartier water board.
Heemskerk has
four neighboring municipalities. In the north, along the Korendijk,
among others, Heemskerk borders Castricum. In the northeast and east,
the river Die forms the border with Uitgeest. Zaanstad is located
southeast of Heemskerk, on the other side of the Kil (a remnant of the
Oer-IJ). Beverwijk is located on the southern border and the western
border is finally formed by the North Sea.
To the west of Heemskerk is the Noordhollands Dune Reserve, managed
by the PWN water supply company. It is possible to go to
Heemskerkerstrand by bike or on foot. Motorized traffic is not allowed,
except for local traffic with a special permit. The Heemskerkerstrand is
characterized as a family beach. The distance is approximately five
kilometers from the village center to the beach access.
The
Heemskerk Fair takes place annually from the Wednesday before the first
Thursday in September and lasts until the Friday after. On Wednesday
morning at 11:00 am the fair will be opened with the traditional 'First
Tune' in the two party tents in the village centre. On Thursday, the
short track trotting takes place, a horse trotting competition with
sulky's where you can bet on the results. The area around this harness
race is often a meeting place for Heemskerk residents who have not seen
each other for a long time.
The Heemskerkse Kermis is one of the
North Holland Fairs, as one can often experience in the summer in West
Friesland and other areas of North Holland. The fact that the
Heemskerkse Kermis is a fairly large fair can be seen from the brewery
turnover of, in particular, the Amstel brand of the Heineken breweries:
in the nineties the beer turnover of the Heemskerkse Kermis was one of
the highest of all North Holland fairs.
Heemskerk has several sports clubs: four tennis clubs (including HTV
Assumburg), two football clubs (ADO '20 and ODIN '59), a basketball
club, a swimming club and a volleyball club. An association that offers
several sports such as gymnastics, aerobics, volleyball and senior gym
is TOSS Heemskerk. The golf course of the Heemskerkse Golf Club is also
located within the municipal boundaries.
Furthermore, the
handball women of the Heemskerk handball club DSS will play alternately
in the Eredivisie and the First Division from 2010/2011. They play their
home games in sports hall "de Waterakkers".
Since 2008, Heemskerk
also has a new artificial turf pitch, which was made possible in part by
the Johan Cruyff Foundation and is located on Laan van Assumburg.
An event that had grown from a local activity in Heemskerk to a
larger event in North Holland was the pole vault championship over the
Neksloot. Neighborhood center de Schuilhoek organized this event until
2009 on Whit Monday. Every year, more than 15,000 visitors visited this
"Frisian" event on the border of West Friesland with many children's
activities, fair, live music and old Dutch games.
Heemskerk is located on the A9 between Haarlemmermeer and Alkmaar.
Heemskerk station is located on the far eastern edge of Heemskerk,
near the neighboring municipality of Beverwijk. In Heemskerk, the
sprinter from Hoorn to Haarlem and Amsterdam Central v.v. stops twice an
hour. The station is not used much by most Heemskerk residents.
The train stations of Uitgeest and Van Castricum (for connections to
Amsterdam and Alkmaar) and Beverwijk (for connections to Haarlem) are a
good alternative for most Heemskerk residents, partly due to the fact
that various Connexxion bus lines serve the stations mentioned. Due to
the new Broekpolder district in Heemskerk and Beverwijk, the
municipality is consulting with NS and ProRail about a major renovation
of Heemskerk station (and Beverwijk station).
Bus connections
from Connexxion through Heemskerk:
Line 71: Beverwijk - Heemskerk -
Uitgeest
Line 72: Beverwijk - Heemskerk
Line 73: Haarlem -
Velserbroek - Beverwijk - Heemskerk - Castricum
Line 74: IJmuiden -
Velsen - Beverwijk - Heemskerk
Pelle van Amersfoort (1996), footballer
André Aptroot (1961),
mycologist
Beatrijs van Assendelft (1465), religious
Mieke Baltus
(1968), politician
Hugo van den Broek (1976), long-distance runner
Raymond Bronkhorst (1978), footballer
Marcella Deen (1988), handball
player
Ada Dispa (1960), artist
Sofie van den Enk (1980),
presenter
Jerrel Feller (1987), athlete
Jeffrey Gouweleeuw (1991),
soccer player
Hester van de Grift (1968), illustrator
Maarten van
Heemskerck (1498-1574), painter
Nicolaas Henneman (1813-1898),
photographer
Reinier Honig (1983), cyclist
Ernesto Hoost (1965),
kickboxer
Martin van der Horst (1965), volleyball player
Marcel
Huisman (1981), football player
Eelco Jansen (1969), baseball player
Richard Kemper (1970), singer and comedian
Mieke van der Kolk (1968),
athlete
Nick Kuipers (1988), soccer player
Robin Martens (1992),
actress
Joost Burger (1991), radio DJ
Arthur Numan (1969),
footballer
Alexandra Penrhyn Lowe (1974), writer
Tamara van der
Pijl (1992), handball player
Olivier Pols (1989), composer and
conductor
Juan Viedma Schenkhuizen (1974), footballer
Kees
Schouten (1961), visual artist
Irene van Staveren (1963), economist
Rafael van der Vaart (1983), footballer
Frank de Vries (1965),
politician
Frank de Wit (1996), judoka
Karina de Wit (1976),
badminton player
Erik Zevenhuizen (1962), historian