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See also: Deurne, Belgium.

Deurne
Country	Netherlands
Province	North Brabant
Area (2006)
- Municipality	118.37 km²  (45.7 sq mi)
- Land	117.10 km² (45.2 sq mi)
- Water	1.27 km² (0.5 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2007)
- Municipality	31,856
- Density	272/km² (704.5/sq mi)
	Source: CBS, Statline.
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Deurne (pronunciation (help·info)) is a municipality and a town in the province of Brabant in the Southeast of the Netherlands.

The municipality of Deurne is a member of the SRE (Regional council of municipalities, Brabant Southeast). The municipality of Deurne is situated on the edge of a glacial sand deposit landscape called the 'Central Trough' (Dutch: Centrale Slenk) (a graben), and the heath and peatmoor landscape of the Peel horst. The Peel faultscarp marks the Central trough ( Graben ) from the Peel-Horst and intersects the municipality of Deurne. The village of Helenaveen dates from the middle of the 19th century when the de Peel peat moor was first settled. From 721, when Herelaef bestowed Deurne to bishop (Saint) Willibrord, till 1795, Deurne remained unsevered from Echternach abbey (seat and tomb of Saint Willibrord) in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg.

Contents 1 History 2 Klein kasteel / the Little Castle Deurne 3 Hamlets in Deurne 4 Population centres 5 Trivia 6 External links

Stone age artifacts have been found in several locations in the municipality of Deurne, such as in: Leegveld and Hoekse Kuilen. One of these finds, dated a few centuries B.C., ranks as important. In 1837, soldiers who were quartered here during the Belgian Revolution, dug up 25 burial mounds (Celtic urns). Regrettably many finds were lost through treasure hunting, though they were later recovered. In 1910 a Roman soldier's gold plated silver helmet was found in the peat moor near Helenaveen.

Since no indications for an early medieaval settlement of the village of Deurne have been found it is assumed that it was situated on the (slightly) raised fields South of today's town centre, which were subsequently used for farming. The newly built housing estate Koolhof and the industrial estate Kranenmortel now occupy this area. Saint Willibrord's church, in the heart of the village of Deurne, is right on the edge of it. Although excavations have yielded older elements, as it stands Saint willibrord's dates from the 13th century up to 16th century. Until 1886 the "Ten Velde" farm (farm "in the field"), formerly owned by Echternach Abbey, was situated in the (old) Helmond Road (Dutch: Helmondseweg), not far from this church.

The village market place which had developed by the church was greatly expanded in 1895 when today's town hall was built. Before the French invasion of 1795 Deurne was governed by the Lord of Deurne, who held his Manor (of Deurne) in tenure (socage) from the Duke of Brabant.

Towards the end of the 14th century, the Lord of Deurne took up residence in The "Old House", a property on loan from the Lord of Cranendonck. It was built before 1383 and is called "the little castle" today. Deurne Manor House, (facing "the little castle" across the road), which was built before 1397 as a late 14th ct gentry dwelling on loan from the Duke of Brabant, is called "the great castle" (Deurne) today. In the 16th century the inhabitants of "the great castle" bought the rights to Deurne Manor and "the little castle" and moved their seat to the great castle, across the road. Subsequently "the little castle" was let, sold, and then bought up again by the Lady of Deurne Manor. From 1760 onwards Deurne Manor was owned by the De Smeth family (baron), who inhabited "the great castle" as their house in the country. In 1948 the last member of the De Smeth family moved out of Deurne and sold the little castle to the Wiegersma family.

Today "the little castle" (Dutch: Klein Kasteel Deurne) can be seen with the addition that was built onto it in 1857. "The great castle" was ruined on 24 September 1944. In an attempt to drive German troops from this castle allied tanks fired at it and set it alight - soon afterwards the castle collapsed. Today's castle ruin houses the local youth club "Walhalla".

After the last war many of the hamlets that typify the municipality of Deurne were lost to ( in ) large scale housing projects:

These hamlets are: Grote & Kleine Bottel = Great and Small "Bottel", Lage Kerk = Lower Church, Heuvel = Hill (Hovel ? Farmstead ?), Veldheuvel = Fieldhill (Field-Hovel ?, farmstead ?) ( regarded as the Southern part of 'Derp), Zeilberg (since 1914 an R.C. parish), Sint Josef Parochie = Saint Joseph's Parish, Walsberg (Marsh hill ?) (called Wasberg before 1950), Haageind = Hedge end, Kerkeind = Church end (still partly outside today's town centre), and the Houten Hoek = Woods corner / end.

Further "afield" (outside today's town centre) the hamlets of Vreekwijk (= -wick), Breemortel ( = -moor ?) en Heitrak (= heath-) have survived.

The remaining villages in the municipality of Deurne have undergone fewer developmental changes. These villages are: Helenaveen, Liessel, Neerkant en Vlierden. The village of Vlierden, being at one time a manor in its own right, later became a municipality but is now a village in Deurne.

• Deurne
• Helenaveen
• Liessel
• Neerkant
• Vlierden

See full list on Dutch page of Deurne.

• List of sheriffs (till 1813) and Mayors of Deurne (Dutch = Schouten en Burgemeesters).
• List of well-known inhabitants of Deurne (Dutch = Bekende Deurnenaren).
• List of listed buildings

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 51.4614° 5.7908°
  • Mapping from Multimap or GlobalGuide or Google Maps
  • Aerial image from TerraServer
  • Satellite image from WikiMapia
• website of the Municipality of Deurne
• Local Historical Society Ouwerling

North Brabant Province
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