Kapel Avezaath: Church, Farms and Local History

Kapel Avezaath brings together the history of a village church and several farms, an early documentary mention, archaeological finds and a cycling route through the village. If you are looking for a hotel for a culturally focused stay, these themes offer a concrete framework for choosing where to stay. The church’s different construction phases and features take center stage, while the farms are distinguished by their layouts, roofs and façade details. Added to these are traces of a much more distant past and a route that passes through Kapel Avezaath.

Village church: construction phases and features

The Reformed village church is located at Zoelensestraat 2. Its single-nave body may date from the 14th century. A small turret sits above the west façade; the taller choir is late Gothic and has rib vaults. “Single-nave” describes a church building with one main nave. Together with the taller choir and the later turret, this design reveals several distinct parts of the building.

The furnishings also include details from different centuries. A 17th-century baptismal railing runs around the pulpit. The pulpit is in the Louis XV style, as is the hymn board, which is dated 1772. P. van Dam built the one-manual organ in 1917, using older pipework. The church thus brings together a possibly medieval nave, a late-Gothic choir and furnishings from later centuries.

Historic farms and their architectural forms

Hoeve Zuiderweert is a farm dating from the first half of the 19th century, with a T-shaped floor plan. Above the living quarters is a high, thatched hip roof; the windows have six panes. Hoeve Waardzicht also has a T-shaped floor plan. Date anchors in its side façade point to 1862. When comparing the two farms, their layouts and dates offer a common point of reference; Zuiderweert can also be described by its roof and windows.

Jochmanshof dates from the first quarter of the 19th century. Its residential section consists of two parallel wings, built crosswise in front of the barn beneath a continuous thatched hip roof. Here, the arrangement of the residential section and barn is as noteworthy as the roof. The three farms therefore illustrate different architectural features: the T-shaped layouts of Zuiderweert and Waardzicht, and the parallel wings of Jochmanshof and their position in relation to the barn.

Documents and archaeological finds

Avezaath is mentioned in a copy, made toward the end of the 11th century, of a document from the year 850. In the document, Count Balderik gives a farm to the Bishop of Utrecht. Two dates should be distinguished: 850 is the date of the document, while the surviving copy was made toward the end of the 11th century.

Archaeological finds also add to the local history. Parts of the wreck of a second ship were observed at the same findspot in Kapel Avezaath, but the vessel was not investigated further. A copper cauldron was found in a sand pit about 50 metres downstream. Together with other metal finds, it was taken to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. The document points to an early written mention; the story of the finds offers another way of exploring the village’s past.

Cycling route and bistro cuisine

The “Fietsen langs de buren van Buren” cycling route passes through Kapel Avezaath. Many of the villages along the route are surrounded by fruit farms and rivers; in spring, the blossoming fruit trees often make for impressive scenes. This landscape description applies to the villages along the route as a whole. For your travel plans, this offers a different focus from the church, farms and local history: a cycling trip through the places along the route.

Brasserie Poelzicht in Kapel Avezaath serves bistro dishes based on classic French cuisine, given a contemporary touch. Together with the cycling route, it adds a specific bistro dining option to the cultural and historical themes. When choosing where to stay, you can consider whether church and farm architecture, the village’s earlier history or a leg of the cycling route is most important to you.

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