Beesel is a place in the Limburg municipality of Beesel. The place had 2,485 inhabitants on January 1, 2020.
Beesel is first mentioned in 1275 and formed one alderman's bank together with Belfeld for centuries. It developed as a wreath field village. At the ends are the hamlets Bussereind, Ouddorp and Rijkel. The first church was built around 1400 in Ouddorp (more than two hundred meters northwest of the current church). For a long time Beesel and Belfeld belonged to the Overkwartier or Spanish Upper Gelre and were part of the Ambt Montfort. In 1713 Beesel joined the United Provinces together with several other municipalities as Staats-Opper-Gelre.
Belt mill De Grauwe Beer
Nieuwenbroeck Castle
Hoeve Oud
Waterloo (1715, expanded in 1780) at Waterloseweg 6
Castle
Waterloo (1922-1923) on Waterloseweg, designed by Caspar Franssen on
behalf of the marquise Van Villers Grignoncourt from Nispen to
Sevenaer.
Saint Gertrude's Church
Dragon statue, on the
roundabout on the Rijksweg, the Bussereindseweg and the connection
with the A73, made by Rik van Rijswick. This 3-tonne statue, which
can breathe fire, was loaned to the municipality in 2009, eventually
purchased and inaugurated in 2016.
Grietjens Gericht, where the
gallows used to be. Now there are three restored burial mounds and a
reconstruction of the wheel.
The Historisch Groentenhof in
Rijkel, where rare and special vegetables are grown.
Nature
and landscape
Beesel is located near the lower terrace of the
Maas, at a height of more than 20 meters. In the neighborhood of
Rijkel there is a gravel pond in a Meuse bend. There is also the
nature reserve Donderberg, a wooded river dune area. The Beesels
Broek, southeast of Beesel, is an area with seepage. The Huilbeek,
which has its source there, flows into the Maas to the north of
Beesel.
In the south of Beesel, the Swalm forms the border
with Swalmen.
Dragon sign
Beesel is best known for the
Dragon Sign, an open-air spectacle about the legend of Saint George
and the Dragon. Once every seven years, the whole of Beesel is
dominated by this ancient battle between good and evil. In 2012, the
Dragon sign was officially added as a tradition to the National
Inventory of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Netherlands. A
special recognition for this open-air spectacle, which is also the
first Limburg tradition to be included on the heritage list.
Music
The dialect group The Holy Goats, founded in 2000, has its
origins in Beesel.
Beesel is also home to Harmonie St.
Gertrudis Beesel.