Oirschot Travel Guide

Only a few medieval village churches in the province of Noord-Brabant have survived intact. The old church of Middelbeers is one of them. It's typical for a 15th-century village church in this part of the country; once there were many more like it. The Belgian part of the Kempen region is still full of them. Kike the church of Oirschot this one has a tower in Campine Gothic style, this one being in the modest variant of the style.
The church is no longer used as such; it was abandoned many decades ago when a new church had been built, and although thankfully it wasn't demolished it fell into decay. After a restoration in 1961 a new use was sought for it. Since 1977 it has been used for exhibitions, concerts, bookfairs etc. At every occassion there's an entrance fee of 1 euro which is used for the maintanance of the church. There's something to do almost every weekend and the former church is still the centre of the local community, perhaps even more than the actual church.

Oirschot's major landmark is the church of St. Petrus, a masterpiece of so-called Campine Gothicism, the specific Kempen variant of Brabantine Gothicism and evidence that Oirschot wasn't just any village in the Middle Ages.
Typical for the richest examples of the Campine style are the towers, which are decorated with blind niches and horizontal lines of natural stone (in this case tuff) in between layers of brick. The church was built from 1462 to 1512. Its size would put many a city church to shame, and its tower is one of the most beautiful in the Netherlands. In the town of Asperen, province of Zuid-Holland, you can even find an almost exact (spire excluded) copy of it, which shows that people were impressed by it back then already. To look at this church is worth the trip to Oirschot alone. The church is open for tourists in May, June and September on Saturdays 13.30-17.00 and in July and August every day at the same hour. Outside these hours I have found the church sometimes open as well. If you get the chance do get in. It's free and it's beautiful.

A sad reminder of better days. Not so long ago this brewery was named De Kroon and was one of only two old family breweries in the Netherlands that still were independent. Unfortunately the owners sold their brewery to the bigger Bavaria group, who closed it but continued to use the well established name. One family member, the former director Gerard de Kroon, reopened the old brewery in 2002 and now makes one beer (a white beer) that is sold only in the brewery itself. He is not allowed to use his own name anymore and had to rename the brewery into Brouwerij Oirschots Bier.
Unfortunately the brewery is only open by appoinment, for groups of min. 10 people. Contact the brewery for details.

This is Oirschot's oldest church. The little Romanesque building is of the oldest surviving type of church in the Netherlands and dates from the 12th century. When in the 13th century a bigger church was built elsewhere in the village the old church was not demolished. In 1664 it was rebuilt into a weighing house for butter, which explains the nickname Boterkerkje ('butter church'). In 1800 it became a church again, this time protestant.