Oosterhout is a city in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant and the capital of the municipality of the same name. Near Nijmegen is the eponymous Oosterhout (Overbetuwe).
Oosterhout is located north of Breda and northwest of Tilburg. Nearby centers are Oosteind, Dongen, Rijen, Teteringen, Dorst, Den Hout, Raamsdonksveer.
The name
Oosterhout would refer to the fact that the place is located to the
east of the still existing church village Den Hout.
The above
statement is very questionable. The name simply refers to the fact
that the place is located to the East of a forest. Can be compared
with the names of the various places Oosterhout and comparable cases
such as Oosterwolde, Westerwolde etc.
Oosterhout
is first mentioned in a charter from 1277, but it is much older.
Already in prehistoric times there was a chain of small settlements
on the northern edge of Brabant's sandy soils. Much further south
was the village of Dorst, surrounded by heather. One of these
settlements, called Middelwijk, grew into the core of the current
municipality, which was governed by an alderman's bank with the
bailiff as chairman. Middelwijk also housed the parish church
dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which was in possession of the
knighthood of the Knights Templar, later the Johns. The Romanesque
church was replaced in the 15th and early 16th centuries by the
current late Gothic church with an unfinished tower. In 1625 the
church was set on fire during the siege of Breda. Den Hout had a
guesthouse intended for travelers that disappeared during the Eighty
Years' War. The chapels of Dorst and Den Hout received the status of
parish church at the end of the 18th century.
Willem van
Duivenvoorde acquired Oosterhout in stages from 1321 onwards. He may
have lived at the castle of Kasteel Strijen. This castle was
destroyed by Spanish soldiers in 1573 during the Eighty Years' War
and then demolished. Part of a corner tower remains of the castle:
the Slotbossche tower. Besides Willem and his descendants, the lord
of Breda, Hadewych van Strijen and her descendants and the
Johannites also had wonderful rights in Oosterhout. The
ecclesiastical parish of Oosterhout also included the west of the
village of Dongen.
Around 1580 the local administrators
proclaimed Oosterhout to be free. This had no legal consequences,
but it was an expression of growing self-awareness among the
Oosterhout elite.
The Oosterhoutse Broek to the north of
Middelwijk consisted of meadows where cattle were fed and hayed in
the summer. Farmers from more southern villages such as Gilze and
Alphen also bought or leased plots of land here.
In the early
17th century, due to the presence of suitable loam in the soil, an
extensive pottery industry was established that worked for export to
Holland and Zeeland. This industry flourished well into the 19th
century. The port made a good and fast connection with the cities in
Holland and Zeeland possible. Various craft guilds of bakers,
millers, boaters, butchers and beekeepers were established in the
17th and 18th centuries. There were annual fairs and a weekly
market. There was a lot of entertainment at the harbor.
Those
who had no land and therefore insufficient income went to work on
the dikes in Zeeland and South Holland. For the more adventurous
young men there was the Dutch East India Company where many enlisted
in the hope of getting rich over there. Only a few succeeded.
Oosterhout is known for its 'locks', castles of which five still
exist. In one of these locks, De Blauwe Camer, the Norbertine nuns
of Sint-Catharinadal have lived since 1647, after the sisters were
forced to leave their convent in Breda. Thanks to a special
protection by the princes of Orange, Saint Catherine's Valley was
allowed to continue to exist in the Republic. Around 1900, two
monasteries were added, of which the monks and nuns from France had
left because of the French policy of secularization. It was the
Benedictines with the Abbey of Our Lady and the Benedictines with
the St. Paul's Abbey. The latter was closed in 2006, after which the
buildings were taken into use by the lay community Chemin Neuf. The
area in which these three monasteries are located is called The Holy
Triangle.
In 1809 Oosterhout received city rights from King
Louis Napoleon.
In the early 19th century, a number of Jewish
families lived in Oosterhout. In 1822 a Jewish cemetery was
established on the Vrachelse Heide. Here also the members of Breda
and Geertruidenberg were buried. By 1850 the congregation had about
45 members. In 1866 a synagogue was inaugurated on Sint-Janstraat.
However, the number of members declined so much that the synagogue
had to be sold in 1899. The municipality was closed in 1910 and
added to Geertruidenberg. The cemetery is still in use by the
municipality of Breda.
Oosterhout has a double center. The Markt and the
Heuvel are the central squares. De Heuvel and its surroundings are a
protected cityscape. The square has stately houses and a double row
of trees.
Originally there were seven Slots in Oosterhout. Most
of the Slots are on the Ridderstraat. They are surrounded by the
Slotparken, the remainder of an extensive pleasure garden with ponds
and tall trees. The clasps were created around the 15th century.
They were homes of the Oosterhout elite, including some families
from the low nobility. Grown from a moated farm, they evolved
through castle-like noble houses into country houses. Stories such
as the hooves in question would have belonged to the Templars and
later the Johns, have never been confirmed by facts. The clasps can
only be viewed from the outside. The locks are:
Slotje Limburg
Brakestein lock
Beveren lock
Clasp Borsele
Slot Spijtenburg
(disappeared)
Slot in Ter Aalst (disappeared)
The Blue Camer,
the seventh lock, is in use as the Monastery of St. Catherine's
Valley.
Ruin of castle Strijen, on the Kasteeldreef. Only the
Slotbossche Toren remains of this.
The Vrijheidshuis on Hill 13
dates from 1610 and housed the administration of freedom. The west
wing was added in the 18th century. Until 1940 it served as the town
hall.
Oosterhout has many historic houses. There are a number of
them on the Markt and the Heuvel, where Markt 13 has a Louis XVI
style skylight. Markt 20 has a stepped gable from 1669 and an
Empire-style entrance. Many houses have a 19th-century facade, but
the core is older.
The buildings of the De Gekroonde Bel brewery,
from 1901, at 106 Bredaseweg. These consist of an office building
and a red brick malt tower. Tile pictures have been incorporated in
the facade.
Former carpentry workshop from 1885, at 2-4
Basiliekstraat.
Oosterhout has various works of art, including
the famous Abraham statue
St. John's Basilica,
Market, Oosterhout. The church is a five-aisled cross church from
the 17th century. The interior contains rare, antique objects and
beautiful stained glass windows.
Heilig Hartkerk, at Arendstraat
35 from 1881, by Piet van Genk. This Jesuit church was demolished in
1974, except for the westwork. In this tower facade there is a quiet
room and there are also the stained glass windows from the former
church housed. Behind this facade is a small courtyard with shops.
The materials from the demolished part were used as much as possible
for the construction of this.
Reformed church (also called:
Vredeskerk), at 6 Rulstraat
Paterserfkerk, at Paterserf 8, was a
Reformed church in modernist style, designed by L.F.M. van der Plas.
She was consecrated in 1969, withdrawn from worship in 2006, and
scrapped in 2007
Antonius van Paduakerk, at Sint-Vincentiusstraat
113, is a neo-Gothic church from 1908, designed by Pierre Cuypers
The Mariakerk, or Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, at 63
Wilhelminalaan, is a basilica-style church designed by B.P.J. Oomen
Huisgezin van Nazarethkerk, at Slotlaan 23, was a Catholic church
that was built in 1960 in the style of the Bossche School by the
architectural firm of Nico van der Laan. In 2004 the building was
withdrawn from worship and demolished on March 24, 2007.
The Holy Triangle is a protected townscape with three
abbeys:
Sint-Catharinadal, Kloosterdreef 3, is one of the five
locks in Oosterhout, from the 15th century. It has been the convent
of the Norbertine Sisters since 1647. It can be visited during the
Open Days.
Our Lady's Abbey, Zandheuvel 90, Oosterhout. The
monastery is inhabited by the Benedictine Sisters. There is a guest
house for retreats and contemplation.
The former St. Paul's Abbey
of the Benedictines on Hoogstraat.
Former Saint Anthony's
Monastery, at Sint-Vincentiusstraat 86, of the Franciscan Sisters
Bakery Museum, Klappeijstraat 47-49. A collection of
old bakery objects and utensils and a historic bakery shop. In the
current bakery it is possible for groups to bake bread and biscuits
themselves.
Museum Oud-Oosterhout, at Bredaseweg 129. Open-air
museum with miniature houses from Oosterhout anno 1900. In the
indoor museum an antiquity room and former regional articles. There
are also temporary exhibitions.
Toy Museum "Op Stelten", at 51
Zandheuvel. A collection of old and antique toys, from the 18th
century to about 1950. The Kaaiendonk Carnival Museum is also
located here.
The Wilhelmina Canal runs south and west
of Oosterhout. The Markkanaal comes out to the west of Oosterhout.
There are a number of locks and a few ports here, the first of which
was opened in 1919. There are extensive business parks along these
ports. To the north of Oosterhout, the Wilhelmina Canal ends in the
Donge. The Kromgat also ends in the Donge. Other waterways to the
north of Oosterhout are the Vissersgat, the Reiedingijksgat and the
Otterkil. These names refer to an earlier system of water channels
in what is now known as the Oranjepolder or the Blokken and the
Slikpolder. This means that Oosterhout lies on the border of the
sandy area and the clay area. There is also a large-scale polder to
the east of Oosterhout: the Combined Willemspolder, a large-scale
polder with an area of 6.5 km2.
Southwest of Oosterhout is
a sandy area, with the Vrachelse Heide nature reserve on the other
side of the Wilhelmina Canal. South of Oosterhout is the Oosterheide
area, a nature reserve with interesting remains of 18th century
military exercises, the so-called Kalix Berna. To the southeast you
will find Boswachterij Dorst.