Riel is a village ( Dutch: '' dorp'') in the municipality of

Goirle Goirle () is a municipality and town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. Part of the suburban area of the city of Tilburg, it shares with it its phone area code and public transport system. The municipality also includes ...

, south 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

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

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 ...

. Until 1997 it belonged to the municipality Alphen en Riel. On the east it is bordered by the stream valley of the river Donge, on the west by the deactivated railroad Turnhout- Tilburg. Riel is a so-called '' esdorp''. The village grew and stretched out as new

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

s took place alongside the main road. First development took place as early as in the 7th century, with a peak in the 12th century when the church stimulated the enclosure of the common grounds and development. Nowadays Riel is a commuter village. In the South and East large nature preserves are located, such as the

moor Moor or Moors may refer to: Nature and ecology * Moorland, a habitat characterized by low-growing vegetation and acidic soils. Ethnic and religious groups * Moors, Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during ...

"Regte Heide", also a

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

site, "Riels Laag" and hunting ground "Hoefke". Because the stream valley cuts through moor and sandy areas, there is a considerable difference in heights.

Gallery

File:Riel, de Sint Antonius Abtkerk RM516998 foto3 2015-06-17 16.34.jpg, Riel, church: de Sint Antonius Abtkerk File:BoerderijenZandeindRiel 04.jpg, Farm in Riel File:DorpsstraatRiel4.jpg, House in Riel File:BoerderijenZandeindRiel 05.jpg, House in Riel

References

{{Commons category, position=left Populated places in North Brabant Goirle