Tegelen

Tegelen is a big village in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. It was an independent municipality until 2001, when it was merged into the municipality of Venlo.

Name

The name Tegelen is derived from Latin 'Tegula', meaning roof tile. This name was already used by the Romans thanks to the high quality clay found there. This was used for baking pots and tiles.

Tiglian

The name of the glacial era of Tiglian (part of the Pleistocene) is derived from Tegelen thanks to the many fossils found there from this era in the local clay.

History

[
Tegelen] During excavations in Tegelen a lot of Roman pottery and tile ovens were found.The Sint-Martinus church is mentioned in diocesan and monasterial archives dating back to the year 800. Because of its strategic location various castles and reinforced farms were soon established. The most important of these were the Castle of Holtmühle and the Munt. During the Middle Ages there were several battles in and around Tegelen, also because of the vicinity of the walled city of Venlo. Over time, a barracks was established in Venlo, and a fortification in neighbouring Blerick. As a result, from the 16th century until the 18th century Tegelen was regularly visited by plundering armies.

Part of Jülich

What is less well known is that Tegelen for centuries was part of the Duchy of Jülich, whilst neighbouring Venlo belonged to the Duchy of Guelders. So literally, according to the people of Tegelen Venlo was 'abroad' and vice versa. This fact explains the clear differences between the local dialects of the neighbouring towns and it explains the rivalry between these parts of the city that persists to this day. The black, uncrowned lion on a golden ground, in the coat of arms and the flag of Tegelen can be found in the coat of arms of the Duchy of Jülich ("compare the images above with the one at right"). For Jülich it was very important to have access to the Meuse river. Tegelen, with its harbour at Steyl, was the most northern one, the other one being Urmond near Sittard. Both enclaves became part of the Prussian Rhineland in the 18th century. This territorial fragmentation was ended in Napoleonic times. Both enclaves were ceded to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, such that the Netherlands finally got complete control of the river from Maastricht northward.

Industrial activities

[
Tegelen] Early in the 19th century Tegelen developed into a regional centre of industry. At first, tile and pottery factories were established, and later that century, metallurgy and tobacco factories. After 1900 agriculture was added to the mix. Pottery and related industries were very successful in Tegelen from 1750 until World War II.

Economic and social life before that war was dominated by a small number of factory owning families that would scratch each other's backs. One infamous episode illustrating the way they treated their work force and how they controlled their lives occurred during World War I. The producers of clay products claimed that the embargo on Germany brought them to the brink of bankruptcy, and the only way they could survive was to drastically reduce wages. The work force went on strike but soon the strike fund was depleted. The local clergy helped negotiate a settlement allowing labourers to return to work for a salary that barely exceeded subsistence levels. It later transpired that there never was any risk of any of the producers going bankrupt, and that this drastic reduction in labour cost had allowed them to make exorbitant profit levels. This is still evident from the gigantic villas in which these families lived and of which a number are still standing.

After the war the number of factories in Tegelen steadily decreased. All smelters, including Globe, known throughout the Netherlands for providing drainage covers, disappeared. There are still three operating factories producing clay products, but all of these are now in foreign ownership. One chimney, previously owned by a stone cutter named Canoy Herfkens, is still standing as a reminder of Tegelen's industrial heyday.

In 2001 Tegelen was amalgamated into the municipality of Venlo.

Culture

The centuries old expertise in ceramics and pottery is kept alive by courses held in Keramisch Centrum de Tiendschuur [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tiendschuur]

Tegelen can boast several theater, music and choral organisations. It is internationally famous for its Passion Play [http://www.passiespelen.nl/ De Passiespelen] that are held every five years in the years that are divisible by 5, in [http://www.dedoolhof.nl/ Openluchttheater De Doolhof] . These always attract many visitors. The same open air theater hosts Tegelen's Bluesrock Festival every year.

Characters

Tegelen has had its fair share of colourful characters. By far the most famous of these is 'Baron' Joachim von Glasenapp a Prussian aristocrat that inherited the castle Holtmuhle in the 18th century. He loved the army life so much that he owned a privately financed armycorps that fought in the Seven Years' War that catapulted Prussia to the rank of the major rival of Austria in the lands of the Holy Roman Empire.

More locally famous, before the Second World War, were the pub owners "Joës en Petatte Nelke", Gustaaf Schreurs and Petronella Muller, who were so famous they had a song written about them and a [http://www.kunstinderegio.nl/index.php?page=36&detail=y&vid=74 statue] erected for them in the market square. You can find an [http://www.kunstinderegio.nl/index.php?page=19 image] of this statue (about 1/3 down the page).

"En as weej wir nao Tegele gáon,"

"dèn gáon weej nao Petatte-Nelke."

"Dao drinke weej ’n sjöpke beer,"

"en hebbe weej ouch vuël plezeer!"

"En Joes, dae haet zô’n lollig vrouwke,"

"die duit t’r sôkker in, die duit t’r sôkker in."

"Al in det beer, al in det beer,"

"die duit t’r sôkker al in det beer!"

Translation: As we go back to Tegelen

We'll go and see Potato Nelke

Were we'll knock back a pint of beer

and have some good old fashioned cheer

And Joës's lady is a joker

She puts some sugar in, she puts some sugar in

Our pint of beer, our pint of beer

She puts some sugar in our beer

Former Mayors

* 1798-1806 G.J. Antoon Thijssen (function formerly known as Agent and after that, Maire)
* 1807 Balthasar Hasenbach
* 1807-1808 Willem Houba (Maire provisoire)
* 1808-1815 Jean Guillaume Kamp (Maire)
* 1815-1817 No mayor; Prussian
* 1817-1830 Jean Guillaume Kamp (function formerly known as Maire and after that, Schout)
* 1831-1836 Jan Josef Ronck (function is called Mayor from now on)
* 1836-1848 Peter van Leipsig
* 1848 Peter Kurstjens (acting Mayor)
* 1848-1852 Gerardus Johannes de Rijc
* 1852-1862 Louis Pierre Quillaume Hubert de Rijk
* 1862 Jan van Leipsig (acting Mayor)
* 1862-1868 Jacob Beelen
* 1888-1906 Karel de Rijk
* 1906-1921 W.R. Carel van Basten Batenburg
* 1921-1927 Martin Willem J. Coenders
* 1927-1944 Mr. Felix Marie Casper Pesch
* 1944-1945 Ortsgruppenführer Potthof
* 1945-1960 Mr. Felix Marie Casper Pesch
* 1961-1979 Mr. Eugène G.G.M. Rutten
* 1979-1981 Niek Goossens (Deputy Mayor)
* 1981-2000 Drs. Piet J.M. Visschers, final mayor

Born in Tegelen

* [http://li.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toine_Ambaum Toine Ambaum] (*1941), Teacher, compiler of Dutch-Tegels dictionary
* Carla Beurskens (*1952), Dutch athlete
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Huub_Beurskens Huub Beurskens] , Dutch writer
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chantal_Janzen Chantal Janzen] (*1979), Musical star and actress
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Huub_Stapel Huub Stapel] , Dutch actor
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ben_Verbong Ben Verbong] , Dutch film director
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andr%C3%A9_van_den_Heuvel André van den Heuvel] , Dutch actor
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frans_Pollux Frans Pollux] , Lead Singer of [http://www.neetoetlottum.com/ Neet oet Lottum]
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theo_Thurlings Theo Thurlings] , Dutch politician
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caspar_Franssen Caspar Franssen] , Dutch architect
* [http://li.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariet_Verbong Mariet Verbong] (1939-2006), Dutch writer and sister of Ben Verbong
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sjors_Verdellen Sjors Verdellen] , professional football player VVV-Venlo
* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Myra_Ward Myra Ward] (1916 - 1990), Dutch actress

ources

*A.J. Welschen 2000-2005: Course "Dutch Society and Culture", International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam

Note

I have done my best to translate this page from the original I found at http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegelen and http://li.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegelen - Pino Carafa

External links

* [http://www.gemeentetegelen.nl/php3/geschiedenis.php3 Korte geschiedenis van Tegelen]
* [http://www.venlo.nl/php3/geschiedenis.php3 Website van de gemeente Venlo]
* [http://www.tiendschuur.net/tiendschuur Website van keramiek centrum De Tiendschuur]
* [http://public.fotki.com/DoubleVision/cities/tegelen Enkele foto's]
* [http://www.kuijsten.de/atlas/li/tegelen.html Kaart van 1868 en Satelliet 2006]