Sprang is a village in the Dutch province of

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 ...

. It is located in the municipality of

Waalwijk Waalwijk () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands. It had a population of in and is located near the A59 and N261 motorways. The villages of Capelle, Vrijhoeve-Capelle, Sprang (the former mun ...

, about 12 km north of

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

History

The village was first mentioned in 1331 as Spranc, and is a water name (from the same root word as spring). Sprang is a road village which developed after William III, Count of Holland had awarded concessions to excavated the

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

in the area in 1301. The Dutch Reformed church dates from around 1400. The tower was added in the late 15th century. The church was supposed to be much bigger. A part of the tower collapsed in 1612 and was not repaired until 1911. The

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

Dye Sprancke was built around 1747. From 1930 onwards, the wind mill started to be used less and began to deteriorate. In 1958, it was bought by the municipality and has been restored several times. It operates on a voluntary basis. Sprang was home to 1,526 people in 1840. Sprang was a separate municipality until 1923, when it became part of

Sprang-Capelle Sprang-Capelle is a former municipality in the North Brabant province of the Netherlands. It was formed in 1923 as a merger of the municipalities of Sprang, Vrijhoeve-Capelle and 's Grevelduin- Capelle. Therefore Sprang-Capelle consists of three ...

. A large part of the village was destroyed in 1945. In 1997, it became part of

Gallery

File:Voorgevels - Sprang - 20203475 - RCE.jpg, Street view (1976) File:Molen sprang 2.jpg, Wind mill Dye Sprancke File:Kerk sprang 1.jpg, Dutch Reformed church

References

{{Commons category, position=left Populated places in North Brabant Former municipalities of North Brabant Waalwijk