St. Peter's Church Oirschot

St. Peter's Church is the central church of Oirschot. It is not the oldest church in this place, that was the St. Mary's Church on the Vrijthof, which still exists today. This church, which was a collegiate church, became too small but could not be expanded.

Therefore, in 1268, a new church was built, St. Peter's Church. This became the new collegiate church. However, it burned down in 1462, with the loss of many valuable documents and artifacts. After this, they set to work energetically on the construction of the new church, but there was often a shortage of money. The church was not completed until 1515.

In the Middle Ages, it was customary to build houses next to the church. In 1566 there was a great fire in Oirschot and some of these houses burned down. By order of King Philip II, these were not allowed to be rebuilt, for safety reasons. In 1623 the other houses burned down and they were not allowed to be rebuilt. Since that time, the church has been free again.

The high spire on the church was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1627, and the tower has been blunt ever since.

From 1648-1799 the church was Protestant, and since 1672 the Catholics had a barn church on the Mieuwstraat. When the Catholics got their church back, the tower remained in the hands of the municipality. The neglected church was given a new interior and restored in 1887.

However, the tower continued to decay, and partially collapsed in 1904. The parish then got the tower back, and through a fundraiser they were able to restore the tower. On 2 October 1944, during the liberation, the church was shelled by the Allies. As a result, the roof and tower collapsed and a large part of the interior was lost. The recovery lasted from 1945-1952. In 1962 the emergency roof on the tower was restored to the situation after 1627, and in 1966 the church was classified as a national monument.

MX-5 Roadster Club NL