Creil is one of the ten so-called green villages ''(Dutch: groendorpen)'' in the

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 ...

province of

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and newest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

. It is a part of the municipality of

Noordoostpolder Noordoostpolder (; ) is a polder and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Formerly, it was also called ''Urk, Urker Land''. Emmeloord is the administrative center, located in the hea ...

, and lies about 6 km northwest of

Emmeloord Emmeloord is the administrative centre of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, Flevoland, Netherlands. In 2019, it had a population of 26,055. Overview At the heart of the Noordoostpolder, where the three main drainage canals Lemstervaart, Urk ...

Name

The name Creil comes from the name of a former village that was once on the coast of the

Zuiderzee The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee (; old spelling ''Zuyderzee'' or ''Zuyder Zee''), historically called Lake Almere and Lake Flevo, was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands. It extended about 100 km (60 miles) inla ...

, which was in turn named after the

Creil Woods The Creil Woods ''Dutch: Creiler Woud'' or ''Kreilse Bos'' was a forest in an area that is now partially the northeast of North Holland and partially submerged in the IJsselmeer and Wadden Sea, between what is currently Texel and Enkhuizen. The ...

that was once located northeast of North-Holland, in what is now the

IJsselmeer The IJsselmeer (; , ), also known as Lake IJssel in English, is a closed-off freshwater lake in the central Netherlands bordering the Provinces of the Netherlands, provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland. It covers an area of with a ...

, roughly between

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...

and

Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbour-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade ...

History

Modern Creil was designed by the Board of the Wieringermeer, one of whose jobs was to design and oversee the construction of the settlements in the newly created

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

s, construction of the town started in 1953.

Facilities

In 2004, a building formerly belonging to the Catholic church in the centre of Creil was restructured into a service centre called The Saalicon. It houses a pharmacy, clinic, hair salon, centre for the elderly and several art exhibitions of local artists. Creil is home to three elementary schools, the Catholic

Jan Roothaan Jan Philipp Roothaan, SJ (23 November 1785 – 8 May 1853) was a Dutch Jesuit, elected twenty-first Superior-General of the Society of Jesus. Roothaan was a decisive figure in the reestablishment of the order after the Suppression of the Societ ...

-school, the public elementary school ''De Springplank'' and the Christian elementary school ''De Regenboog''. These schools share the same building and share many public facilities such as the schoolyard and the gymnastics hall. The land surrounding Creil is home to large amounts of

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

cultivation, and every spring the village organises the ''Bloembollen Vakdagen Flevoland'', a competition between local bulb flower growers. Creil is home to a football club, SC Creil, and houses a Protestant church.

Transportation

Creil has a bus connection, Line 77, which connects Creil with other villages in the

. * Line 77:

Lemmer Lemmer () is a town in the municipality of De Fryske Marren, in the Dutch province of Friesland. Lemmer lies adjacent to the IJsselmeer and the Frisian Lakes and is one of Friesland's best-known surface water sports locations. Lemmer is a bustli ...

- Rutten - Creil -

Espel Espel is one of the so-called green villages (Dutch: ) in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It lies in the municipality of Noordoostpolder next to a crossroads where provincial road N712 from Urk to Lemmer intersects with road N714 to Emmeloord, r ...

vv. The line makes three stops on three bus stations in Creil, namely the Klutenpad, Creil and Wrakkenpad stations. Despite being close in proximity, there is no direct bus line to

Bant Bant is one of the so-called green villages ''(Dutch: groendorpen)'' in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It is a part of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, and lies about 7 km north of Emmeloord. Name The name Bant is derived from the ...

. Creil is connected by road via the provincial roads N712, which runs through the town, and N715. These provincial roads form the main road connection with other towns in the area and subsequently with the larger motorway and highway network. The N712 runs through Creil from the southwest to the northeast, connecting to Espel in the southwest and to Rutten in the northeast. The N715 branches off just to the northeast of Creil and connects Bant to the east. Creil has no rail connection; the nearest train stations are in Kampen,

Meppel Meppel (; Drents: ''Möppelt'') is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It constitutes the southwestern part of the province of Drenthe. Meppel is the smallest municipality in Drenthe, with a total area of about . As of 1 July ...

Zwolle Zwolle () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel ...

Dronten Dronten () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Flevoland. It had a population of in . History Plans for the municipality of Dronten were made in the early half of the ...

and

Lelystad Lelystad () is a Dutch Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and the capital city of the province of Flevoland in the central Netherlands. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who en ...

Gallery

File:Creil-landscape.jpg, Creil as seen from a distance over crop fields. File:Creil - 50 years.jpg, Eastern entrance of Creil, during the 50 year anniversary of the town in 2003. File:Creil in de winter van begin 2005.jpg, Creil during wintertime in 2005. File:Creil - Kerkelijk instituut.JPG, The Protestant, and nowadays only, church in Creil. File:Creil binnenplein.JPG, The village centre, housing stores, the post office, medical centre, church, fuel station, a

FIAT Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

dealer and the bus station. File:Creil - Binnenpark en Het Saalicon.JPG, The Saalicon, as seen from the village centre.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Flevoland Noordoostpolder 1953 establishments in the Netherlands