Grote Kaliebeek

The Kaliebeek is a small river in the Antwerp Kempen and runs on the border between Tielen and Lichtaart, where it flows into the Aa at the southernmost point of Tielen. In Tielen itself, in the Balderij nature reserve, two rivers first flow into each other before they are given the name Kaliebeek. These are the Grote- and Kleine-Kaliebeek, which originate in Arendonk and Oud-Turnhout respectively. An eighteenth-century map of Brabant by Robert de Vaugondie states that these streams only flowed in winter.

Kalie, or as the original and now also used in the dialect 'Cale', is Celtic for watercourse and can also be found in the names of other rivers. (e.g. in the Calene, a watercourse in the province of East Flanders)

Until the 19th century, there were officially several 'Cale's' in the vicinity of the current Kaliebeek, because it was once decided on the maps of non-navigable waterways of the Aa and Nete valleys to simply call all tributaries of both rivers 'Cale'. Probably just because the local names didn't matter and it was much easier to fill in the same name everywhere.

Eddy&Rita