Old Tower open to public

As part of tower day, the Old Tower of Beek en Donk on Molenweg (entrance to Dokter Timmerslaan) will be open to those interested. Volunteers from the Heemkundekring De Lange Vonder will be present to provide explanations and it is possible to climb the tower.

The church, which included the Old Tower, was built around 1420. It was probably the successor to an even older church, probably a wooden building. This church was located in the centre of Beek in the Late Middle Ages. From 1250, however, the centre shifted to where it is today, the Heuvelplein. Church and tower therefore became lonely in the fields, as church and especially churchyard were rarely moved. After the Peace of Munster in 1648, the practice of Catholic worship was banned in Brabant and the Protestants were assigned the church. This community was too small to maintain the church and so it deteriorated into ruins. Attempts to restore it failed. In 1813, the church was demolished, but the tower was preserved because over time the community had become the owner. It is now a national monument.