Last modified: 2005-12-03 by ivan sache
Keywords: dessel | saltire: engrailed (yellow) |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
Municipal flag of Dessel - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 25 August 2005
See also:
The municipality of Dessel (8,717 inhabitants on 31 December 2004; 2,703 ha) is located in Kempen, 5 km north of Mol and 10 km south of the border with the Netherlands.
The name of Dessel was written Desgele in 1481 and Desschel in 1658.
There is no clear explanation on the origin of this name.
The early history of Dessel is linked to the history of Balen and Mol
since the three villages formed a single domain (voogdij, lit., tutorship) owned by the Benedictine abbey of Corbie (today in Picardie, France). In 1559, the abbey sold the
tutorship, which was later ruled by lords, the first of them being
Godfried van Bocholtz.
After the French Revolution, the tutorship was abolished and divided
into three separate villages. Dessel was already an independent parish
after its secession from the parish of Mol in 1271. The municipal
autonomy of Dessel was confirmed after the independence of Belgium. A
project of municipal fusion with the neighbouring city of Retie aborted in the 1970s.
The municipal territory of Dessel is watered by a network of old
canals. Sluis 4 Dessel-Witgoor is unique in Europe because it is the
junction of three canals, the canal of Kempen and its two
diverticulums, the canals Dessel-Turnhout (north) and
Dessel-Kwaadmechelen (south).
The opening of these canals is the origin of the extraction of white
sand in Dessel and Mol. Around 1850, a boatman from Mechlin shipping
sand from Zeebrugge to a glass factory near Liège noticed the white sand on the banks of the canal near Dessel. The sand was of better
quality (more white) than the sand he had onboard. The boatman took a
sample of the sand, which was proven to be of the best quality and
later exported all over the world. Sand extraction had significant
consequences for the landscape, leading to big ponds used as extraction
places and later as nature reserves and recreational areas.
The Holy Family church (Heilige Familiekerk), designed in 1934 by architect Stan Leurs, is one of the earliest examples of modern church building in Belgium.
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 25 August 2005
The municipal flag of Dessel is black with a yellow engrailed saltire.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 19 November 1979, confirmed
by the Executive of Flanders e on 6 June 1989 and published in the Belgian
official gazette on 8 November 1989.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms, which were first approved
in 1965. These arms belonged to Alexander-Balthazar Roelants, lord of
Dessel in 1666.
The greater arms of Dessel are flanked by a lion and a griffin, and St.
Peter holding two keys stand behind them. All the ornaments are in
gold.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 25 August 2005