Hulsen

Hulsen is a village in the Belgian municipality of Balen. On the border with the municipality of Meerhout lies the small hamlet Lil, which overflows into the village of Hulsen. The largest core of habitation on and around the long street Grees forms the northern part of Hulsen.

Already in the years 400-500 AD a settlement arose on the site of Hulsen. The hamlet that for centuries belonged secularly under Balen, but spiritually under Meerhout, was already mentioned in documents from 1289. Around 1543, a chapel dedicated to Our Lady was erected on the site of the current church. The chapel consecration did not take place until 6 September 1610 and Saint Hubert was chosen as patron. The chapel was served from the parish of Meerhout. In 1625 the chapel books mention a schoolmaster for the first time and on 3 December 1649 the bishop gave permission to establish his own school in Hulsen.

On 22 November 1798, a battle took place in Hulsen as part of the Boer War. 150 farm boys (the so-called brigands) were killed. A memorial stone behind the church refers to this event.

The chapel of Hulsen was elevated to a parish church in 1808, so that baptism, marriage and burial could also be celebrated there. On January 4 of the same year, the first cemetery was consecrated. By Royal Decree of July 11, 1842, the parish was recognized and that same year the church was enlarged, Hulsen then had 430 inhabitants.

The municipal school, built in 1862, was replaced in 1897 by two new classrooms and a school house. The current neo-Romanesque church, dedicated to Saint Hubert, was built in 1898-1899 and the architect was Pieter Jozef Taeymans. The furniture of the church dates largely from 1904, but the organ, purchased in 1826, and some wooden statues come from the demolished late Gothic chapel: Saint Hubert (early 16th century), Saint Barbara and Saint Lucia (late 16th century), Our Lady with Child (early 17th century) and Saint Bernard (early 16th century). The presbytery was built in 1876 and renovated in 1951-1952.

The school house was transformed into a monastery in 1919 and a sister school was opened on 29 September of the same year. The current school buildings date from 1989 (primary school) and 1992 (kindergarten).

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