Berkel-Enschot is a Dutch village, located in the municipality of

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

in the

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called 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 the we ...

province which borders

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Geography

Berkel-Enschot is located between Tilburg and Oisterwijk. Surrounding towns and hamlets are Brem, Heikant, Heuveltje, 't Hoekske, Hoog-Heukelom, Hoogeind, de Kraan, Laag-Heukelom, Loonse Hoek, Oisterwijkse Hoeve and Udenhout.

History

The village was formed when two agricultural villages, Berkel and Enschot, eventually merged. From 1811 until 1996, together with neighboring hamlet Heukelom, the village formed an individual municipality which was split up in 1997. From that point, Berkel-Enschot became part of the municipality of

and Heukelom joined the municipality of

Oisterwijk Oisterwijk () is a municipality and a city in the south of the Netherlands. Population centres * Haaren * Heukelom *Moergestel *Oisterwijk Topography ''Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Oisterwijk, 2021'' Transportation * Railway ...

. Although mainly an agrarian community, field ovens near the local

clay pit A clay pit is a quarry or mine for the extraction of clay, which is generally used for manufacturing pottery, bricks or Portland cement. Quarries where clay is mined to make bricks are sometimes called brick pits. A brickyard or brickworks is of ...

s were used to produce bricks from 1897 until 1931. One of these clay pits was eventually turned into a recreational pool, the Rauwbraken, which is still in use today. Another notable contribution to the village, facilitated by the growing brick industry, was its first rail line which ran from

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

. Although originally constructed to transport bricks, it allowed the village to easily transport feed for livestock as well as coal.Ad van den Oord, Boeren en burgers - Een geschiedenis van de gemeente Berkel-Enschot van 1810 tot heden
/ref> After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the village prospered due to the booming textile industry of Tilburg. When in 1960, the Jurgens Textile company opened a production location in the village, the number of residents again grew quickly.

Toponymy

The town derives its name from the old Dutch words 'Berkeloo' and 'Ende Skied', which mean 'Birch forest' and 'Final border'.

Main sights

Koningshoeven Abbey Koningshoeven Abbey ( nl, Abdij Koningshoeven, Abdij Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven) is a monastery of the Trappists (Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance) founded in 1881 in Berkel-Enschot in North Brabant, the Netherlands. Fou ...

, founded in 1881, is a Trappist abbey and one of two Dutch breweries of trappist beer.

Gallery

File:Berkel-Enschot, de Sint Willibrorduskerk foto5 2015-08-13 15.44.jpg, Church: de Sint Willibrorduskerk File:Berkel Enschot, rotonde bij de Puccinilaan foto3 2016-04-20 18.28.jpg, Roundabout near de Puccinilaan File:Berkel-Enschot, sculptuur bij de Eisenhowerlaan-Durendaelweg foto6 2015-08-13 15.22.jpg, Sculpture at de Eisenhowerlaan-Durendaelweg

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 1997 Former municipalities of North Brabant Populated places in North Brabant Tilburg