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

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and youngest 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 lies in the municipality of

Noordoostpolder Noordoostpolder (; en, "North-East Polder") is a polder and municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Formerly, it was also called '' Urker Land''. Emmeloord is the administrative center, located in the heart of the Noord ...

next to a crossroads where provincial road N712 from

Urk Urk () is a municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Urk is first mentioned in historical records dating to the 10th century, when it was still an island in the Zuiderzee, an inland sea that would become part ...

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 bustlin ...

intersects with road N714 to

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 ...

, roughly 6 km to the east.

Name

Espel is named after the former village of Espelbergh, also known as Espelo, which was situated north of Urk until it and a large amount of nearby land were washed away in the All Saints' Flood of 1570.

History

Espel was founded in 1956 as an agricultural settlement and one of the green villages spread around the Noordoostpolder. Shortly after being founded Espel was granted several facilities, namely shops, three schools, two churches and two cafeterias.

Facilities

General facilities

Today Espel features its own church, a school, a cafeteria with restaurant and bowling centre, and athletic fields for the local football club, FC Espel. In 2002 the last supermarket in the village shut down, and in 2009 the last shop closed its doors as well. In 2011, by public initiative, a new supermarket called the Troefmarkt was opened by an entrepreneur from

Lelystad Lelystad () is a municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the capital of the province of Flevoland. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who engineered the Afsluitdi ...

. In 2014 the store was bought by a different entrepreneur from the nearby

Tollebeek Tollebeek is a village in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It is a part of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, and is approximately 90 kilometres north east of Amsterdam. Tollebeek is one of ten villages in the Noordoostpolder (literally: Nort ...

, and was added to his chain of Attent supermarkets.

Church

Overzicht op wit geschilderde vrijstaande en ronde kerktoren met wijzerplaat - Espel - 20409851 - RCE

The local church, the Una Sancta, was built from 1959 to 1962, relatively shortly after the founding of Espel and is operated by the

Protestant Church in the Netherlands The Protestant Church in the Netherlands ( nl, de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, being both Calvinist and Lutheran. It was founded on 1 May 2004 as the merger of the ...

, abbreviated as PKN, a 2004 merger of many former Protestant churches. The modern white cylindrical church tower especially stands out in its unique style. From 1960 to 1961 a second, Catholic church was built in the village. It was named ''Kerk van de Verrijzenis des Heren'', which translates to Church of the Rising of the Lord. It is no longer in use.

Surrounding countryside

The area around Espel is an important area in the cultivation of

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short 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 ...

ous flowers, mainly but not exclusively

tulip Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...

s. Each spring a walking and cycling route is laid out along the blooming fields. To the west of Espel, along the dyke that forms the coast with the

IJsselmeer The IJsselmeer (; fy, Iselmar, nds-nl, Iesselmeer), also known as Lake IJssel in English, is a closed off inland bay in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland. It covers an area of with an a ...

, is

Windpark Noordoostpolder Windpark Noordoostpolder is an onshore and near-shore wind farm in Flevoland, the Netherlands. Upon completion in 2017, it was the largest wind farm in the Netherlands, and as of 2019 it is still one of the largest. Owner-operators are members ...

, a partially on-shore, partially off-shore wind farm. It opened in June 2016 and is the largest wind farm of its kind in the Netherlands. The windpark will feature a total of 86 wind turbines upon completion in 2017.

Public transportation

Espel has a bus connection operated by

Connexxion Connexxion is a large Public transport in the Netherlands, public transport company in the Netherlands, operating in the west, middle, east and southwest parts of the country. It is owned by Transdev and Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten. It is a subs ...

, Line 77, which connects Espel with other villages in the Noordoostpolder. * Line 77:

- Rutten -

Creil Creil is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. The Creil station is an important railway junction. History Archaeological remains in the area include a Neolithic site as well as a late Iron Age necropolis, perhaps belonging to ...

- Espel -

vv. Espel is connected by road via provincial road N712 which leads to

to the south, and

, Rutten and

to the North. Provincial road N714 starts in Espel and heads east to

. There is no railway station in Espel, but the nearest stations are in Kampen,

Dronten Dronten () is a 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 1950s; real plans for the town of Dr ...

and

Gallery

File:Knipboetiek - panoramio.jpg, Hair dresser File:De Ducdalf - panoramio.jpg, Party centre and bowling alley

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Flevoland Noordoostpolder Populated places established in 1956