Duffelcoat statue

Those who are not from the area may not really know Duffel as a municipality in the Nete Valley. Nevertheless, Duffel once had a thriving brickworks where around 500 workers earned their bread (remember the clay pits from earlier).

Duffel also had a successful textile industry. We only need to refer to the well-known duffle coats worn by English soldiers. Known as the duffel coat. They were made from heavy wool in the textile factory of Duffel. Be sure to take note as you approach the roundabout on Hondiuslaan: there stands a statue of the famous coat.

The presence of waterways and canals, as well as the arrival of the Antwerp-Mechelen-Brussels railway, also plays an important role here in Duffel. Aluminum for cars or the daily essential toilet paper could well come from Duffel. The problem, however, is that the brand names we see in stores are often no longer directly linked to the names of the companies. But it mainly concerns global players, such as Novelis-Aleris (formerly Sidal) in Duffel, which produces aluminum for nearly all car brands and also for Coca-Cola cans.

Little remains of the old glory of beautiful houses from the thriving industrial period before the war. This has everything to do with the destructive “Battle of the Nete” during WWI.

Leave Duffel and drive towards Rumst along the N1c. Keep following this road until you automatically find yourself in Molenbergstraat. At no. 113 you have the Volkshuis of Rumst for any urgent stop.

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