Kerk, Kerkdijk 1 A

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Introduction.

The CHURCH was built in 1865 in Neo-Gothic style to a design by an unknown architect or building firm on behalf of the Roman Catholic parish of Saint Willibrordus at Lage Zwaluwe. The parish covered a large area with several scattered settlements. For this reason, it was decided in 1864 to establish an auxiliary church in Hooge Zwaluwe. This met the wishes of the growing number of parishioners in Hooge Zwaluwe and Helkant who found the distance to and lack of space in the church of Lage Zwaluwe inconvenient. These developments ultimately led in 1867 to the independent parish of Hooge Zwaluwe. The church is situated in the southern part of the settlement of Hooge Zwaluwe just south of the railway line Zwaluwe-'s-Hertogenbosch; between the railway line and the church lies the adjacent churchyard, directly to the south of the church lay the parsonage. The church has a shallow forecourt and lies virtually directly onto the street, but stands on both sides free from other buildings. This other building in this part of the settlement of Hooge Zwaluwe consists of single-storey labourers' cottages. The construction of church and parsonage, together with the laying out of the churchyard, created a small Catholic core in the village. This core formed the counterpart on an urban planning and on a socio-religious level to the core which lies in the northern part of the village and which consists of the Dutch Reformed church and the town hall. The two cores are clearly evident in the building image. The developments around St. Willibrordus are also illustrative of Catholic emancipation in this area.

Description.

The St. Willibrordus is a hall church on a rectangular floor plan and is closed off by a narrower, pentagonal choir. The church is built principally of brick, only for the eaves tiles, for the roof covering tiles and in the window traceries is natural stone used. The plinth around the church is rendered. The church has a high gabled roof covered with slates; on both sides and at the rear small roof dormers are particularly noticeable in the roof panels. The front facade is relatively closed and divided into two bays which are separated from each other by a narrow and slightly projecting central risalit which runs over the full height of the facade and transforms at the level of the ridge into a small roof turret, creating in a sense the impression of a built-in tower. The risalit narrows twice by means of chamfering, roughly corresponding to the buttresses on the side facades. The entrance is in the risalit and consists of a double wooden door in a natural stone frame with natural stone step and under a pointed arch in which a rose window with leaded lights is installed. The pointed arch is laid flush. Above the entrance is a double pointed arch niche in which an image of Willibrordus is placed. At the top of the central risalit, just below the ridge, two small openings closed with shutters are installed, just above these openings is a round blind niche. Prior to the heightening of the roof turret or tower in 1919-'20 these were successively the sound holes and the clock face. On both sides of the risalit is a centrally and high-placed pointed arch window with leaded lights and provided with tracery and a trefoil in the head of the window. The front facade is finished with a fillet course under which is a climbing pointed arch frieze. On both corners of the front facade a lisene is installed which above the facade is crowned by a worked natural stone block. The side facades of the nave each have five bays. The bays are separated from each other by chamfered buttresses. Each bay consists of a wall in which is a centrally and high-placed two-light pointed arch window, identical to the windows in the front facade. The bays are closed off by a diagonal frieze just below the gutter. On the right side facade at the fourth bay is a small five-sided, single-storey side chapel under a flat roof. This chapel is opened by three small pointed arch windows. The choir is as high as the nave, but narrower and consists of five sides - a 5/10 choir closure. On the corners of the sides are chamfered buttresses placed diagonally. The windows in the five sides of the choir are identical, but larger, to the windows in the nave and front facade. The transition from choir to nave is formed by obliquely placed walls. On both sides of the choir are low, single-storey annexes partly under a hipped roof and partly under a flat roof.

The tower is formed by the far forward-placed square brick roof turret which with one side adjoins the central risalit in the front facade and in this way forms the crowning of the risalit and the entrance. The tower is furnished on three sides with clock faces and on four sides with a pair of pointed arch sound holes. It is finished with an octagonal, diagonally compressed spire and is covered with slates. The spire itself is crowned by a metal cross. The church is furnished with hardstone tile flooring. The walls are white rendered and scarcely decorated. The church has a very distinctive and in North Brabant relatively rare stucco cross vault. The vault consists in fact of three parts. In the longitudinal axis connected cross-ribbed vaults are installed of which the springing points hang low and relatively freely in the space and are accentuated by finely worked keystones. Each cross-ribbed vault is flanked on both sides by an adjoining half cross-ribbed vault with very low-running transverse arches that rest on corbels. In this way within the actual hall church the impression of a three-aisled church is created. Against the right wall of the nave is, between the fourth and fifth bay, the pulpit placed. This consists of a richly worked tub that rests on an iron base and is furnished with a finely worked sound board. Beside the pulpit a segmental arch gives access to the side chapel. In it once stood the baptismal font, nowadays it is a Mary chapel. Above the entrance is an organ gallery on an oval floor plan resting on two unworked wooden marbled columns. The gallery is furnished with a partly enclosed balustrade on which is a centrally placed medallion with a David figure, 'hanging' from a festoon with various attributes.

The obliquely placed transition walls between nave and choir provide space for two side altars with retables. In the choir in the three central windows are leaded light windows placed which respectively, from left to right, depict the birth of Jesus, a calvary group and Pentecost. The windows were made by W. Derix (Goch, Germany). The choir is also furnished with a stellar vault.

Valuation.

The St. Willibrordus Church is of general importance. The church has cultural-historical value as a particular expression of socio-economic, spiritual and cultural developments. The building has architectural-historical and building-historical value as a representative of Neo-Gothic church construction and in particular the so-called stucco-work Gothic and because of the fine interior furnished with rare elements. The church has been preserved intact as regards exterior and interior and is in good state of maintenance. The church has ensemble value because of its situation in the building axis of Hooge Zwaluwe - certainly in combination with churchyard and parsonage - as a counterpart to the town hall and Dutch Reformed church in the northern part. The church is also a defining element for the appearance of the southern part of the village.