Beek en Donk is a town in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

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 ...

. There are 10,028 inhabitants. The spoken language is Peellands (an

East Brabantian East Brabantian ( or ) is one of the main divisions of the Brabantian dialect group recognized by the ''Woordenboek van de Brabantse dialecten''. East Brabantian dialects are mainly spoken in the eastern part of the province of North Brabant. Clas ...

dialect, which is very similar to colloquial

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

History

The area of nowadays Beek en Donk has been inhabited for a long time. Tools of

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

nomadic people have been found. The first permanent inhabitants come around 700 AD. In the Middle Ages, the basis was made for the current towns. First Beek grew around the Oude Toren, and Heereind. In the 13th century, the role of Heereind was taken over by the expanding Donk. Heereind is noted in a document in 1314, where it was given the same importance as Aarle, Rixtel and Beek. On

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara (; ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an Early Christianity, early Christian Greek saint and martyr. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings nor in the origin ...

day (December 4) in 1300, duke Jan II of Brabant gave the inhabitants of 'Rikestele, Arle ende Beke' (Rixtel, Aarle and Beek) the right to use common lands around the towns. In the 14th century, Beek en Donk got its first

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

. In 1809, it was demolished, but the tower remains, as the Oude Toren (old tower) During the reign of Johanna van Brabant, Beek, together with Aarle and Stiphout, was sold to Dirk de Roovere, for 1.700 gulden. In later ages, the area changed owners a few times, until in 1798 the feudal system was abolished, inspired by the French revolution. During the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish Empire, Spanish government. The Origins of the Eighty Years' War, causes of the w ...

, the town suffered from passing enemy armies. After the war, Beek en Donk remained poor. Only in the late 18th century, when there was more land cultivated, the situation slowly got better. In the 19th century, the town started to develop more. In 1836 the

Zuid-Willemsvaart The Zuid-Willemsvaart (; translated: ''South William's Canal'') is a canal in the south of the Netherlands and the east of Belgium. Route The Zuid-Willemsvaart is a canal in the provinces Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg (Belgium), and North B ...

canal was dug by hand, and in 1880-1881, the steam

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

between

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

and

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Hèllemond'' in the local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of ...

was built, having a stop in Beek en Donk. The tram was broken up later; the canal still remains. In 1997, Beek en Donk,

Lieshout Lieshout is a village located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, about 15 kilometres northeast of Eindhoven. There are 4,300 inhabitants, and the village is known for its brewing company Swinkels Family Brewers. The s ...

Aarle-Rixtel Aarle-Rixtel is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch municipality of Laarbeek in North Brabant. It lies about 4 km north of Helmond. Since the municipal reorganization of 1968 the Croy Castle, castle Croy is part of Aarle-Rixtel. History A ...

and

Mariahout Mariahout is a village located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, about 20 kilometers northeast of Eindhoven. Mariahout has a population of about 1700 and is the smallest village of the municipality of Laarbeek. His ...

formed the municipality

Laarbeek Laarbeek () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. It was formed in 1997 from the former municipalities Beek en Donk, Aarle-Rixtel and Lieshout (which included ...

. The town hall of Beek en Donk serves as the town hall of the new municipality. In 2020, at a future construction site in Beek en Donk,

phosphor A phosphor is a substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence; it emits light when exposed to some type of radiant energy. The term is used both for fluorescent or phosphorescent substances which glow on exposure to ultraviolet or ...

was found in the ground at the site, dating back to

explosives An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

used by

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The construction was postponed.

Gallery

File:Beek en Donk, de Sint Michaëlkerk in straatzicht RM520153 foto5 2016-10-16 11.49.jpg, Church (de Sint Michaëlkerk) Image:Oude Toren.JPG, Oude Toren (Old Belfry) Image:Castle Eyckenlust.JPG, Castle Eyckenlust Image:Bridge Beek over Zuid Willemsvaart.JPG, Bridge over Zuid Willemsvaart

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beek En Donk Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 1997 Populated places in North Brabant Former municipalities of North Brabant Laarbeek