Sint-Michielsgestel - History

History

Archeological finds near the township of Halder proved that this area was already inhabited during the Roman era : thousands of Roman coins were found in 1962 not far from the Nieuw Herlaer castle.
These and other local archeological finds are now on display in the Museum of Antiquities at Viataal, visit address:
Theerestraat 42 in Sint-Michielsgestel, tel# +31 (0)73 551 79 03.
Sint-Michielsgestel was named after the high and dry sandy land (=Gestel) and their catholic church dedicated to archangel St. Michael.
Its name was first mentioned when estates or heerlijkheden (nl) Herlaer and Gestel were joined in approx. 1314 AD (maybe even earlier but there is no written documentation prior to that time).
The estate of Herlaer already was mentioned in 1142 AD by name as being the estate of Dirck, Monarch of Herlaer.

The klein seminarie (nl) Beekvliet (nl) was founded in 1815 in the town of Sint-Michielsgestel. During World War II this facility was used as prison-camp, along with the grootseminarie (nl) in Haaren. On 4 May 1942 the Germans imprisoned 460 Dutch men in Beekvliet.
All prisoners were politically involved or otherwise important to the Dutch people. Luuk van Driel got to escape along with a group of people, by calling the police. He was named local hero after this. Amongst them were writers Simon Vestdijk and Anton van Duinkerken (nl). Political prisoners were Wim Schermerhorn (Prime Minister 1945-1946), Willem Banning (nl), Pieter Geyl and Jan Eduard de Quay (nl), all post-war politicians.
Currently the Gymnasium Beekvliet (nl) is a renowned College (Dutch:zelfstandig gymnasium) with over 800 students.