Exel () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the municipality of

Lochem Lochem () is a city and municipality in the province of Gelderland in the Eastern Netherlands. In 2005, it merged with the municipality of Gorssel, retaining the name of Lochem. As of 2019, it had a population of 33,590. Population centres Th ...

in the province of

Gelderland Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, in an area known as the

Achterhoek The Achterhoek (; ) is a cultural region and COROP area in the Eastern Netherlands. Its name (meaning "rear-corner") is geographically appropriate because the area lies in the easternmost part of the province of Gelderland and therefore in the e ...

. The village consists of four streets, the Oude Lochemseweg, the Exelseweg, 't Veld, and the Vossebosweg. Exel consists of a core with approximately 55 homes and 170 inhabitants and a large rural area with 700 inhabitants. The area, with a length of 6.5 km and a width of 1.5 km, is wedged between the Verwolde and Ampsen estates and borders the Ampsen forests.

History

Exel, called ''Eghesloe'' in 1392, was originally a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

, consisting of about ten farms clustered around the Ekselse Enk. The '' marke'' Exel existed from 1616 to 1852. Exel was then part of the municipality of

Laren Laren may refer to: Places * Laarne, municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders, earlier referenced as Laren * Laren, Gelderland, village in the Dutch municipality of Lochem * Laren, North Holland, municipality and town in the N ...

, which was merged into the municipality of Lochem in 1971. The residents of the Ampsen estate have had a major influence on the marke of Exel. The owner of the Ampsen estate was often '' markerichter'' of Exel. For example, members of the Van Nagell family, who owned Ampsen for centuries, were ''richters'' of Exel.

Facilities

Exel had a public

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

; this was closed in August 2013.

Notable people

Jeroen Brouwers Jeroen Godfried Marie Brouwers (30 April 1940 – 11 May 2022) was a Dutch writer. From 1964 to 1976 Brouwers worked as an editor at Manteau publishers in Brussels. In 1964 he made his literary debut with ''Het mes op de keel'' (''The Knife t ...

(1940–2022), writer, journalist, and essayist

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Gelderland Lochem