Berkel spring area Billerbeck

In the southeast of Billerbeck, there is a basin-shaped valley that is the source area of the Berkel with several springs. The original main source stream springs forth in the hamlet of Dörholt near the Schulze-Brock farm ("Old Berkel") in a small wooded area. The currently "official" Berkel spring, however, is located about 1200 m further north on the outskirts of Billerbeck in the district of Holthausen.
The "New Berkel" flows through a pond, merges with the "Old Berkel" about 500 m after a weir, and then continues northeast through the city area toward Coesfeld. The Berkel source area has undergone continuous changes over the past 150 years. One intervention was, for example, the dumping of soil material on the wet meadows, which were largely reforested with hybrid poplars in the early sixties. Other measures included the establishment of a swimming facility (currently used as a fishing pond), the creation of a spring pond, the enclosure of the spring, and the development of the area through paved footpaths.

The Berkel flows for a length of 150 KM from Billerbeck through Coesfeld, Gescher, Stadtlohn, Vreden into the Netherlands, passing Eibergen, Borculo, Lochem, and Almen, and empties into the Ijsselmeer.

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