Weesp

History

Until the early Middle Ages the region around Weesp was an uninhabited peat bog. Weesp (Wesopa in Latin documents) was granted city rights in 1355 and celebrated its 650th anniversary as a city in 2005. From the late Middle Ages, the river Vecht was a defensive line for the County of Holland and it remained a military defensive line until the Second World War. Weesp was strongly fortified, more than its size would justify; for most of its history it had a few thousand inhabitants. The defensive lines consisted of inundation zones, which would be flooded in wartime (the Hollandic Water Line). Behind them were fortified towns, forts, barracks and other military structures. The most comprehensive was the Defence Line of Amsterdam (Stelling van Amsterdam), a circular inundation zone around Amsterdam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After the Second World War, new housing was built in the west and an industrial zone with a harbour at the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal was constructed. In the 1970s a suburb was built on the south. Another suburb was built in the north which recently expanded with plans for further expansion. Before the reformation the church was dedicated to Saint Lawrence. It is still in use for Protestant services. In the tower it has a famous carillon by Pieter Hemony cast in 1671. Following the 19th Century emancipation of Dutch Catholics, a Catholic church was erected in Weesp. The Dutch government considered Weesp too small to continue as an independent municipality. Bas Jan van Bochove was the last mayor of the municipality of Weesp until the merger was finalized on 24 March 2022.