Kwaadmechelen is a village in the

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...

municipality of the

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

province in the

Flemish Community The Flemish Community ( nl, Vlaamse Gemeenschap ; french: Communauté flamande ; german: Flämische Gemeinschaft ) is one of the three institutional communities of Belgium, established by the Belgian constitution and having legal responsibilitie ...

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 ...

. Kwaadmechelen was an independent municipality until 1977 when it merged into Ham.

History

The area has been inhabited since prehistory. A Roman cemetery had been discovered near the village. Kwaadmechelen was first mentioned as Quaedmechelen in 1365. The village became an independent parish in the 16th century. In 1892, ''Exploitation des Procédés Raynaud'', a chemical company nowadays known as Tessenderlo Chemie, was founded in Kwaadmechelen. In 1925, the railway line was extended with a station in Kwaadmechelen. The railway line closed for passengers in 1957, but remains in use as an industrial line. In 1977, Kwaadmechelen merged with Ham. Even though Kwaadmechelen was the biggest village, the new municipality was named Ham, because it was a former ''

heerlijkheid A ''heerlijkheid'' (a Dutch word; pl. ''heerlijkheden''; also called ''heerschap''; Latin: ''Dominium'') was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800. ...

'' ( landed estate).

Nature

The nature reserve is located near Kwaadmechelen. The reserve is named after the Dutch word for male rabbits due to the abundance of rabbits and hares in the area. In the 19th century, large parts of the

Campine The Campine ( French ) or De Kempen (Dutch ) is a natural region situated chiefly in north-eastern Belgium and parts of the south-eastern Netherlands which once consisted mainly of extensive moors, tracts of sandy heath, and wetlands. It encom ...

were transformed into agricultural land. De Rammelaars was remote and swampy and therefore remained untouched making it one of the few remaining authentic Campine landscapes.

Gallery

File:Kwaadmechelen - Sint-Lambertuskerk.jpg, St Lambertus Church File:Kwaadmechelen - gemeentehuis 3-08-2020 13-08-22.jpg, Town hall

Notable people

Lode Wouters Lode Alphonse Wouters (27 May 1929 – 25 March 2014) was a Belgian cyclist. He was born in Kwaadmechelen, Belgium. He competed for Belgium in the 1948 Summer Olympics held in London, United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...

(1929–2014), cyclist.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline Populated places in Limburg (Belgium) Former municipalities of Limburg (Belgium)