't Spijker

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

Component 5

Description

'T SPIJKER. Located to the southwest of the Hervormde Church, a medieval building within a moated enclosure, originally a storage shed of Brakel castle. Within a moated enclosure. The building was already separated from the castle in 1318 as a free property and not subject to feudal dues. According to tradition, until 1616 it would have been the residence of a Commandery of the Knights of St. John. At that time the bridge connection with the church is said to have been established (see component 6 for this). In 1837 the house was again added to the estate. The building has a rectangular ground plan, from which the east and south walls rise from a narrow moat, and consists of a higher eastern part from the 14th century with a narrow 15th or early 16th-century bay on the east side and a spiral staircase in the northeastern corner as well as a lower western part, created in phases during the 17th and 18th centuries. The eastern part consists of two storeys and an attic storey, covered by a gabled roof enclosed between two stepped gables (the eastern modified into a pointed gable), on which a roof turret with a pear, formed by an inverted earthenware pot from Nantes. In the north wall of this part, on the ground floor level, two large pointed arch recesses are spared; an entrance has been made in the eastern recess; in the western one is a window. Above this, in 1838, some ornamental wall anchors from Heusden were added. In the south gable of the eastern part, two cellar lights with grilles and a gun loop, pointed arch windows with shutters at ground floor level and an 18th-century window with underlukes on the upper storey. In the eastern gable (left side gable) four mullioned windows above each other, the uppermost of which replaced two narrow windows in the 19th century. The western part of the house has a number of dissimilar glazed windows. On the north side of the lower western extension, on the ground floor, there is a recess provided with ornamental grille work (19th century), containing a pedestal of a statue, and above it a (later painted) commemorative plaque with the inscription: 'Non inferiora secutus', framed by two Ionic columns, on which a segmental pediment. Internally, in the eastern part there is a large cellar vaulted with a brick barrel vault which may date from the 14th century. The room above this, the hall, has a ceiling with principal and subsidiary beams with wall studs and curved corbels, provided with a pear-drop moulding (15th century). The ceiling cuts through the two pointed arches against the front facade and is therefore a later insertion. Against the adjoining bay a stuccoed fireplace recess with pointed arch (after 1837) and two doors with framework, also after 1837. The narrow bay contains the stone spiral staircase with brick steps (lower part with wooden steps laid on top) which leads past four small rooms or cells stacked above each other up to the attic. In these cells which successively bear the later-added names S. Petrus, S Maria and S Johannes on the 16th or 17th-century door, there are windows in three of which stained-glass heraldic panes have been added after 1837. Next to the hall lies a large ground-floor room which was added in the 17th or 18th century. In this three doors provided with 17th-century oak wood framework. A small corridor on the south side was removed during alterations in the 19th century. Early 20th century saw the glazed window in the south gable being made. The upper storey above the two large ground-floor rooms, accessible along the spiral staircase, also consists of two rooms. In the first above the hall, the so-called leaseholders' room, principal and subsidiary beams with wall studs and corbels on keystones (15th century) with pear-drop moulding and a fireplace. The other room has wainscoting (circa 1800) with four wall cupboards. At ground level above these are two rooms in one of which a largely renewed oak wainscoting with two door casings (framings?) and a simply carved oak fireplace (second half of 18th century) from a house from Zaltbommel. Against the north wall of the building stand in the front garden three carved corbel stones, one of which bears the date 1635, from the town hall in Heusden.

Assessment

'T SPIJKER, part of the historic country estate Brakel, is of particular cultural-historical and architectural significance:

- because of its age

- because of the various building phases from the 14th through the 19th century which have each retained their own character

- because of a number of specifically named interior components

- because of the place which the Spijker occupies in regional history

- because of its ensemble value as part of the estate Brakel