Smuggling route Roosendaal

Delve into the smugglers' past of Roosendaal and the surrounding area

Where prices differ or availability of goods is different, smuggling occurs. Things have been no different between the Netherlands and Belgium in times of war for a long time! Whether it was salt, tobacco or people, the remains of the smuggling routes can still be found everywhere in this beautiful border area. Delve into the past, learn more about the history of the area and, above all, enjoy this special bike tour.

We'll start at the beginning; the origins of the smuggling routes. After the Treaty of Munster in 1648, a border was created between the north and south of Brabant, making Roosendaal a border town. The Belgian uprising in 1830 and the determination of the national border in the Treaty of Maastricht on August 8, 1843 made this further definitive. The border that was drawn at that time can still be recognized in various places by the numbered cast iron and bluestone posts. What ultimately made Roosendaal even more important as a border town is the international train connection that followed in 1854. That connection ran between Rotterdam and Antwerp with the last station before the border crossing: Roosendaal station.

A village that is even closer to the Belgian border than Roosendaal is Nispen . It was severely damaged in the Second World War, but fortunately enough has been preserved to see. For example, you will find the Aerden belt mill from 1850, the only mill in the Netherlands that has four blades of the Van Rietwijk system. In the center of the village you will find the church that dates from 1931 and was designed by architect Joseph Cuijpers. Years later in 1946 he also realized the Peace Chapel that you will find on Heijbeeksestraat.

Parallel to the border, there is a street in Belgian territory called Grensstraat . Fun fact: the houses on the north side of the street are in Dutch territory, while the neighbors on the south side are in Belgium.

You will encounter the first remnant that reminds you of the time when the border crossing was closed when you cross the border at Essen, namely the Quarantine stables. These complexes were built in 1896 and expanded in 1909. The buildings served to check livestock imported from the Netherlands for infectious diseases. The quarantine function was abolished in 1958 and the stables have now been converted into homes. A place that also deserves extra attention is the Cart Museum . Near the Kiekenhoeve, the former farm of the Tongerlo abbey, you will find this museum where you will find the largest collection of carts, wagons and carriages in the Benelux. This museum also contains a remnant from the war: the death wire. It is a replica of the barrier that the German occupiers placed along the entire border between the Netherlands and Belgium in 1915. The wire was under electric high voltage with the aim of preventing smuggling and espionage between the two countries. In this region, the death wire did not run completely parallel to the national border, but slightly further south near Wildert, meaning that Essen, more northerly, was in a kind of no man's land at the time.

Where you really feel as if you have traveled through time is the Wouwse Plantage Estate . This area was originally a peat swamp, but the owner Baron de Caters planted it with various types of pine. In addition to the country house or'castle\\\', the private part of the estate also contains several monumental farms with outbuildings, a fire brigade museum, a hunting lodge, a forester's house and a sawmill that is still used occasionally today. . At the initiative of the baron, a church was built near his estate in 1870, which formed the center of the new Pindorp, later called Wouwse Plantage.

An ode to the sawmilling past of this area is the sculpture 'De Pinnerooier', made by artist Leon Vermunt and which is located on the edge of the village of Wouwse Plantage . The term'Mastepinne\\\' refers to the stumps left behind from the pine trees after chopping or it may also be a reference to the pine cones. You can get a better look at this estate from De Natuurpoort, where several beautiful walking routes run through the area.

The route then leads to the Rucphense Bossen, part of a nature reserve of no less than 1200 hectares that consists of heathland, forest, grassland, drifting dunes and fens. And this area also has a smuggler's past! During the First World War, the Netherlands remained neutral, which meant that smuggling to and from Belgium was rampant. The most famous smuggler in this region was Geert Schrauwen. He was nicknamed Klaveren Vrouwke because of his many tricks and disguises with which he often misled customs and soldiers. However, on May 5, 1916, he did not escape his fate and was shot dead at the Strontpaal . The pole got its name because customs officers relieved themselves here during the war. The memory of Klaveren Vrouwke has always remained vivid through the many anecdotes told about him.

The route returns to the Netherlands via the Belgian Horendonk and the Dutch hamlet of Steenpaal, whose name recalls an old border marker.

Short circuit route 1 - 27.5 km

94 - 29 - 03 - 5 - 15 - 14 - 24 - 81 - 01 - 84 - 85 - 86 - 88 - 91 - 92 - 5 - 99 - 94

Short circuit route 2 - 29 km

94 - 99 - 96 - 97 - 61 - 98 - 62 - 41 - 52 - 53 - 8 - 54 - 55 - 95 - 71 - 94