Brielle

On 1 April 1572 a fleet of Watergeuzen, sea beggars operating as privateers against Spanish shipping, found themselves without a base after England expelled them, and took Brielle - a small port they had not intended to attack - discovering the Spanish garrison had left. It was the first town in Holland to fall to the revolt, and it started the chain that became the Dutch Republic; the pun made at the time, that the Duke of Alba had lost his glasses, works in Dutch because bril means spectacles, and it is still repeated. The town celebrates 1 April every year with a re-enactment. Brielle kept its seventeenth-century bastioned ramparts complete, walkable the whole way round, along with a large unfinished Gothic church tower, an arcaded town hall and a compact grid of old streets inside the walls.

History

The name is said to come from the Celtic brogilo, "closed area" or "hunting ground", and the present town is the "new" Brielle, the old one having stood elsewhere on Voorne-Putten. In 1330 Gerard van Voorne granted it town rights, including the right to trade fish and collect port dues, and it was long the seat of the lords of Voorne (Wikipedia, Brielle).

What you'll find

• Complete star ramparts - the seventeenth-century circuit, walkable all the way round.
• The first town taken in 1572 - where the revolt against Spain began in Holland.
• An unfinished church tower - the Sint-Catharijnekerk's stump, climbable.
• The 1 April re-enactment - the capture staged in the town every year.

When to go

April to October; 1 April for the re-enactment. A day.

Before you go

The 1 April event fills the town and the roads onto Voorne. The church tower is unfinished and the climb is exposed. Museums close on Mondays. Public transport from Rotterdam is slow.

Nearby

Voornes Duin and the coast are west; the Maasvlakte is north.

Key facts