Bavel is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in southern

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It is located in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

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

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic 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 ...

, largely within the

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

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

with some rural areas in the municipality of

Alphen-Chaam Alphen-Chaam () is a municipality in the southern Netherlands. Population centres Towns: * Alphen (4,000) * Chaam (3,810) * Galder (1,190) Hamlets (the population data of these hamlets is included in the population data of the towns near whic ...

. Bavel has a population of around 8,300. The majority of the inhabitants live in the village itself, and some 590 in the surrounding countryside, including the hamlets of Roosberg, Eikberg, Bolberg, Tervoort, Lijndonk and Lage Aard.

History

Bavel is first mentioned in 1299, in a document dealing with the distribution of the revenues in the parish of

Gilze Gilze en Rijen () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern Netherlands. The municipality contains four villages: Rijen, Gilze, Hulten and Molenschot. It is home to the Gilze-Rijen Air Base. Rijen grew in the 19th centur ...

, of which Bavel was a part at that time, and the rights of the Abbey in Thorn, the owners of the area, to collect one tenth of the harvest, called "tienden". The streets "Tiendweg" and "Abdij van Thornstraat" in Bavel bear witness to this historical connection. In 1316 Bavel was separated from the parish of Gilze and got its own church, devoted to St. Brigida. After the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish Empire, Spanish government. The Origins of the Eighty Years' War, causes of the w ...

in 1648, Catholicism became banned, and the church fell to the Protestants. The catholic population improvised a catholic church in the hamlet of IJpelaar (today part of the city of Breda) until 1743, in which year they built a new church, presumably at the "Kerkeind". In 1809, the French king

Lodewijk Napoleon Louis Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French client sta ...

returned the original church back to the catholic population. At that time, a French "telegraphe" was installed on the tower of the church, to convey messages fast from Paris to Amsterdam. In 1887 a new church building, located roughly opposite the street of the old one, devoted to the

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...

was taken into use, and is still in use. The location of the old church is now a graveyard, and the little chapel is constructed from material of the old church. Until 1942 Bavel was part of the municipality of

Ginneken en Bavel Ginneken en Bavel was a municipality in the Dutch province of North Brabant, located southeast of the city of Breda. It covered the villages of Ginneken (now a neighbourhood of Breda) and Bavel. Ginneken en Bavel existed until 1942, when the vi ...

. In that year the city of Breda annexed Ginneken and what remained of the old borough became

Nieuw-Ginneken Nieuw-Ginneken was a municipality in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Brabant, located southeast of the city of Breda. It was created in 1942 from part of the municipality of Ginneken en Bavel, and existed until 1997 when its parts north of ...

. In 1997 the municipality of Nieuw Ginneken ceased to exist after the population centres on the border to Breda were annexed by this city. In the period 2003–2006, a new residential area along the former borderline between the city of Breda and Nieuw-Ginneken was established (Nieuw Wolfslaar). The city had also planned to construct a new village at Lijndonk/Tervoort, but these plans have recently been cancelled.Breda past in hoog tempo bouwplannen aan
(in Dutch)

Gallery

File:P1010873copyH._Maria_Hemelvaartkerk.jpg,

Church in Bavel, built in 1887 File:30490 windmolen de hoop.jpg, Wind mill De Hoop File:T.T Boerderij Dorstseweg 31 Bavel 30491.JPG, Farm in Bavel File:Cafe Zalencentrum De Tussenpauz P1330730.jpg, Pub and party centre

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in North Brabant Alphen-Chaam Breda