La
Licorne
LAND CONSOLIDATION
As from
the year 1940 farmers organizations had requested the improvement of some
10,000 hectares of agricultural lands south of Heusden. The
area comprised ten villages and some hamlets. It took the provincial government
till 1959 to decide on a plan for land consolidation.
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The project was wanted for
a number of reasons:
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Apart from some village to village roads, most
connections were just dirt roads.
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The eighteen waterboards in charge of water control, could not ensure adequate drainage
or water supply due to outdated provisions.
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The low river embankment between Bokhoven and
Hedikhuizen functioned as a spillway subjecting a vast area to flood hazard.
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Land parcels were small and ill shaped.
Notably the Long Street villages had lengthy and narrow parcels in the back
of their farms.
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The lands belonging to the individual holding
were spread over several locations at great distance. On the average a
holding of 10 hectares would have 8 parcels of land at distances of up to 5
kilometers from the farm.
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The construction of some new highways would
worsen land parceling.
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Not including Heusden, which by itself was an
impoverished historic town, 230 sub-standard houses would be found in the
area of which 35 were farmhouses.
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All
these constraints made ordinary farming hard and drove the people to augment
their income. Small scale pig- and poultry keeping were common. In the central
part of the block horticulture was practiced. Besides many members of the large
Catholic families were involved in off-farm jobs.
The
project would lift physical constraints hampering efficicient farming. Some
farmers were found prepared to vacate their farms and move to the new polders
up north in the country. Others would terminate farming altogether. This would bring
in land to increase the average farm-size. Staying farmers would be encouraged
to specialize in horticulture on the open ground as well as in green houses.
These market gardeners would be allotted high-value garden land in the central
part of the area, while vacating lesser valued pastures in the polder. Cattle
farmers on their turn would vacate holdings in the central part and move to the
polders freed from flood. This exchange would leave the gardener with a
reasonable lot of outstanding garden land, and the cattle breeder with a
sizable and well drained pasture farm. Ideally the land would be allotted
around or nearby the farmstead.
Activities
started after the land owners had endorsed the government plans.
Haarsteeg
is a typical Langstraat
village in the central part of the block. At one end of this longstreet the
road makes a distinct turn. In the springtime of 1963 a young man entered the
local inn on that spot. He explained to the man behind the bar that he was to
work with the land consolidation project and asked the guy to help him out with
the lodging. Since these things were decided by women, the wife was called. In
those days being a student meant status; so it didn't take the couple long to
decide the fellow was welcome.
Quarters
being arranged for a reasonable price I went to buy a second-hand motor-cycle
for the price of 25 guilders in the local bicycle shop. Then I headed to the
project office a few kilometers away. Of course they had expected me to arrive,
but not on that particular day. I was offered the handsome allowance of 300
guilders a month. And yes, I would be shown the whole project and could ask
anything I wanted. But no, I was not supposed to do any work, for one day I
might be the one in charge.
The
latter disappointed me, because I had come with a modest degree of ambition to
see for myself what it was all about I had been studying for during so many
years. On the other hand I felt relieved that I had no obligations. Soon I
found out that the second thought was right. My stay in the inn not only
included excellent boarding with home-made delicacies and lodging in a room
with view on the longstreet, it also meant fraternizing with the customers. As
a matter of fact Johan and Koos happened to be hosting quite a crowd of regular
clientèle brisking in early evenings and staggering out late nights.
Take
neighbor D'n Teun, frail as he was, every evening he stood up to his wife's warnings
and came over to the pub. And a wife she was: unlike him her physics
represented the ten children she had given birth to. But on Saturday evenings
the old chap came in early for a few quick ones, because its night was claimed
by the youth. Invariably, on Sundays the couple came together, and after many,
many drinks left united for home. Once I had established this pattern, I
started to romanticize how D'n Teun was saving his strength on Saturdays for
making up with his wife on Sundays. But I learned also something else from him.
Whatever drinks he had or hour he left, every next morning he could be found
energetically working on his land: Big
guy in the evening, good boy in the morning.
Meanwhile
I performed my non-duties in a most comfortable, but useful manner. The project
was well on steam and activities were taking place all over the area. My
motorcycle allowed me to visit all places and I made sure to taste of
everything that was going on. One of the jobs I had taken up concerned
notifying the farmers when a new road was going to be cut through their land.
Logically the new roads had been projected to break up the extremely long -but
narrow- parcels of land. Consequently they would be crossing multiple lots with
numerous owners and tenants who all had to be informed.
For
this task I was to work with Harry, a chap of around fifty on hand for odd
jobs. We would first visit the Registrar of Lands to find the names of the
presumed owners. Unfortunately his office had no records on the tenants, which
implied that we had to identify those ourselves. That could be realised by
interviewing land owners and farmers encountered on a nearby lot in the field.
That exercise brought me to the low-productive, beauty-rich interiors of
agricultural Brabant.
In
order to facilitate the upcoming works the alignment for the new road had
already been staked out. Starting from one side we would traverse the area on
foot for all the kilometers it took. The parcels were only 10 to 20 meters wide
and separated by hedge and ditch, leaving a scanty strip for cultivation. From
time to time we would meet a farmer to whom we could pose our questions, but
not before having explained the purpose of our visit. Their knowledge of the
terrain is really surprising. Parcel by parcel they could give the names
of owner and tenant, and indicate the
crop that would be standing on the field. This way we would build up the
information and check the accuracy of the information already on hand.
After
lunch my companion, who had a respectable age in my eyes, was ready for a nap.
I welcomed this, since it gave me the opportunity to make up for the late
nights. A quiet, shady spot with soft underground was always present in those
remote quarters, and the beautiful summer weather allowed us to make a sound
sleep in the open.
Where
the field survey fell short, we would complete our records by farm visits, for
which we had reserved the afternoons. In this Brabant of the early sixties of
the twentieth century, time had been standing still for ages. The people took a
keen interest in what we had to tell and ca,me to ask. After all, the project
would be a turning point in their farm operations and future. Taking our
introduction for grnated they would volunteer all the information we needed and
endlessly expand about their lives, family, farm, neighbors etceteras. Whenever
the occasion arose the bottle would surface after coffee. In those times having
to drive a car hardly gave you a reason to refuse a drink, and I had only a
motorcycle! Nevertheless most of the time I managed to stay aloof to save my
energy for the nights. Not so did Harry, who tossed all that was offered to him
like water.
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On one of those occasions the old
chap started to talk about a lady that was lying asleep somewhere. My initial
curiosity evaporated when it turned out to concern the sculpture of a
countess in some church. I would have forgotten all about it if he hadn't
gone on and on about the sleeping beauty. So I couldn't miss memorizing the
name of the concerned village.
'As if she were
asleep'
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A
few days later I decided to have a look at the spillway which for centuries had
allowed high Maas water to spread into the area. The spillway was merely a low
crested portion in the dike of about two kilometers between the villages of
Bokhoven and Hedikhuizen. Time had come that the interior lands were not any
more required as emergency basin for flood water. So the spillway was to be
upgraded into a dike, after which the lands could be declared safe and sound
for settlement. River training they called it. On
my way I passed Bokhoven, the very village Harry had
mentioned.
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It happened to be a
sleepy village on the river Maas. The church can't be missed, and in those
days the door was unlocked as a matter of course. The inside -as the outside-
was of surprising beauty indeed. Walking up to the altar, I found the tomb in
the left transept. Good heaven indeed, how could this marvel have arrived in
a place like this. A tomb in marble with a noble couple carved out in an
artful manner of top quality. He manly, and she so feminine and alive:
as if she
were asleep.
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Opposite the church -behind a
moat- there were the ruins of masonry walls. I squeezed myself through the gate
and had a look at the wilderness on the other side which once must have
served as the inner yard of a castle. Now only a building with a step-gable
and an elegant tower could be seen on the left.
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The local pub was the next purpose of my visit. Its
owner happened to be of the suspicious type needing a lot of encouragement
before coming with any information, especially to the stranger who moments
before had trespassed the ground which he considered to be his rightful take.
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Years
would go by before I would return to this village and learn a lot more
about it.