Veghel () is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the southern

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. On 1 January 2017 Veghel, together with

Schijndel Schijndel () is a town and former municipality in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. Schijndel is located approximately southeast of 's-Hertogenbosch. Schijndel was founded on 6 December in the year 1309. On 1 January 201 ...

and

Sint-Oedenrode Sint-Oedenrode () is a town in the province of North Brabant. Sint-Oedenrode is a moderately urbanized town in the Meierij of 's-Hertogenbosch. Sint-Oedenrode had an unknown population as of and has an area of . On 1 January 2017 Sint-Oedenrod ...

, merged into a new municipality called Meierijstad creating the largest municipality of the province North-Brabant in terms of land area.

History

The first settlements date back to

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

and were established near the River Aa. The oldest written record of Veghel dates from 1225. It is a document of the Abbey of Berne, written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

on a piece of

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

, and describes several properties owned by the abbey. Among those is an estate located in the settlement of "Vehchele". In 1310, John II of Brabant granted the inhabitants the right to use common grounds. For some decades in the 16th and 17th century the municipality was ruled by the Lords Van Erp, residing at their castle of Frisselsteijn in Veghel. In 1648 Veghel became part of the

Republic of the Seven United Netherlands The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

. As a former part of the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg Neth ...

, Veghel is situated in the

Meierij The Meierij van 's-Hertogenbosch (; Dutch for "Bailiwick of 's-Hertogenbosch") was one of the four parts of the Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate o ...

'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 ...

. As a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

town, Veghel (like all the other areas of Brabant and

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 ...

which were transferred to the Netherlands by the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...

) suffered economic and religious oppression from the Protestant Dutch and was part of the military buffer zone of the Dutch Republic. In 1719 Veghel became a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

, when it was granted

market rights A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

by the

States General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States ...

, receiving the privilege of holding weekly

markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...

and four

annual fairs Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook **Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), a ...

. However, it was not until the French wars of 1795 that Veghel formally received freedom of religion again and received a guarantee of full common rights from the Dutch government. In 1810 Veghel became part of the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

. From the middle of the 19th century the agrarian market town began developing into an industrial town as a consequence of the opening of the South Willem's Canal. The construction of large-scale buildings like the neogothic

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

Pierre Cuypers Petrus Josephus Hubertus "Pierre" Cuypers (16 May 1827 – 3 March 1921) was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station (1881–1889) and the Rijksmuseum (1876–1885), both in Amsterdam. ...

and the neoclassical

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

dates from that period. Monastic orders made Veghel a regional centre of health care and education, which it remains to this day. In 1940 Veghel was occupied by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

troops. With the beginning of

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...

in 1944 Veghel was one of the dropping-places for Allied

paratroops A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...

owing to its strategic location. The period since the 1950s has seen much growth, with the development of new industries and the establishment in Veghel of several international companies (e.g.

Mars, Incorporated Mars, Incorporated is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$40 billion in annual sales in 2021. Mars was ranked as the fourth-largest priva ...

FrieslandCampina Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. is a Dutch multinational dairy cooperative which is based in Amersfoort, Netherlands. It is the result of a merger between Friesland Foods and Campina on 30 December 2008. The European Commission approved this merger ...

, DMV International,

Agrifirm Agrifirm is a cooperative enterprise in which more than 10.000 Dutch farmers and horticulturalists have combined their purchasing power. Agrifirm in its current form was founded in 2010 due to a successive merger of regional cooperatives. The en ...

Kuehne + Nagel Kuehne + Nagel International AG (or Kühne + Nagel) is a global transport and logistics company based in Schindellegi, Switzerland. It was founded in 1890, in Bremen, Germany, by August Kühne and Friedrich Nagel. It provides sea freight and ai ...

DHL Supply Chain DHL Supply Chain is a division of Deutsche Post DHL and is affiliated with DHL. Headquartered in Bonn, Deutsche Post has 510,000 employees. In 2016, DHL Supply Chain was primarily competing in strategic life sciences and healthcare, automotiv ...

Alliance Healthcare Alliance Healthcare, formerly Alliance UniChem, wholesales, distributes, and retails pharmaceutical, surgical, medical, and healthcare products throughout Europe. The company supplies more than 110,000 pharmacies, doctors, health centres and hos ...

ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and h ...

and Vanderlande Industries). Its shopping centre and marketplace earned the town the name of "Pearl of the Meierij". Veghel is an educational centre for the surrounding district with several secondary schools, a senior secondary vocational school, and one of the oldest higher vocational schools in the area: the Pedagogic Academy, which was founded in 1872. Since 1994, Veghel and the neighbouring town of Erp have formed a single municipality.

Demographics

Towns

Population figures as of 1 January 2015, ranked by size:

Population centres

Population figures as of 1 January 2015, ranked by size:

Language

The language spoken by the native population is North Meierijs (an

East Brabantian East Brabantian ( nl, Oost Noord-Brabants or Oost Brabants) is one of the main divisions of the Brabantian dialect group recognized by the ''Woordenboek van de Brabantse dialecten''. East Brabantian dialects are mainly spoken in the eastern part o ...

dialect, which is very similar to colloquial

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 ...

).Jos & Cor Swanenberg: Taal in stad en land: Oost-Brabants,

Nationalities

Compared to other towns in the region, the ethnic makeup of Veghel is relatively diverse. More than 22% of the town's population, or 17% of the municipality's population, is of foreign origin. In total, Veghel is home to people of more than a hundred different nationalities. About 90% of the municipality's total foreign population lives inside the town proper of Veghel.

Local festivals

Every November sees the celebration of the entry of St Nicholas (''

Sinterklaas Sinterklaas () or Sint-Nicolaas () is a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children. Other Dutch names for the figure include ''De Sint'' ("The Saint"), ''De Goede Sint'' ("The Good Saint") and ''De Goedheiligman'' ("The ...

''). Every two years in June or July, the Slokdarmfestival takes place. On 1 September the harbour festival takes place. In February or March the traditional

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

is held.

Attractions

*The neogothic church of St Lambert and its graveyard containing war graves *The neorenaissance former town hall *The neogothic former

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

(recently rebuilt) *The Protestant church *The

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception from the Holy Mother of God with its gardens and church

Notable residents

* Anky van Grunsven, dressage champion. * Dillianne van den Boogaard, former Netherlands international field hockey player. *

Earnie Stewart Earnest Lee Stewart Jr. (born March 28, 1969) is an American former soccer player who played as a striker or a midfielder. His career spanned 17 years from 1988 until his retirement in 2005, with the majority of them spent in the Netherlands, th ...

, former United States international soccer player. *

Theo Lucius Theodorus Martinus Maria "Theo" Lucius (born 19 December 1976) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He could operate as a right back or a central defender, and also as a defensive midfielder. He spent most of his 16-year professional care ...

, former professional footballer for

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

and

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

. *

Theo Maassen Theodorus Wilhelmus (Theo) Maassen (born 8 December 1966 in Oegstgeest, South Holland) is a Dutch comedian and actor who grew up in the village of Zijtaart (municipality of Veghel) in the Dutch province of North Brabant. He currently lives i ...

, comedian and actor.

Twin towns - sister cities

Veghel is twinned with: *

Goch Goch (; archaic spelling: Gog, Dutch: Gogh) is a town in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated close to the border with the Siebengewald in Netherlands, approx. south of Kleve, and southeast of Nijmegen. His ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Pont-Audemer Pont-Audemer () is a commune in the Eure department in the Normandy region in northern France.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Gallery

File:Gemeentehuis Veghel, Stadhuisplein 1.JPG, Town Hall of Veghel File:Villa Klondike - Veghel, 2014.jpg, Villa Klondike, former headquarters of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

) File:Heilig Hartplein, Binnenhaven Veghel.jpg, Statue of the

Sacred Heart of Jesus The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This dev ...

at the

marina square Marina Square is a shopping mall in Singapore which opened in the late 1980s. It is part of the first building complex built on the reclaimed land at Marina Centre, and was the largest shopping mall in the country at the time. The complex also hou ...

File:West-zijde toren - Veghel - 20239979 - RCE.jpg, Saint Lambert Church File:Overzicht voorgevel en linker zijgevel - Veghel - 20347829 - RCE.jpg, Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Mother of God nunnery File:Graansilo CHV, J.G. Wiebenga - Het Nieuwe Bouwen.jpg, Modernist

silo A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...

by J.G. Wiebenga, part of the

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, who ...

movement File:Binnenhaven Veghel, Zuidkade, Zuid-Willemsvaart.jpg,

Inland port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers publ ...

of Veghel File:Langshaven Veghel, De Heus Voeders & Inland Terminal Veghel - Zuid-Willemsvaart+N279.jpg, Inland port of Veghel File:Duits-lijntje-in-veghel-07.jpg, Boxtel-Wesel Railway File:T.T Aa-Brug Veghel (5).JPG, Railroad crossing the Aa river File:Binnenhaven Veghel - 2.jpg, Marina of Veghel File:Binnenhaven Veghel - 3.jpg, Marina of Veghel File:Intocht van Sinterklaas in Veghel 2014 - 2.JPG, Marina of Veghel during the entry parade of

, 16 November 2014

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Authority control Meierijstad Former municipalities of North Brabant Populated places in North Brabant Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 2017 Port cities and towns in the Netherlands