Babberich (Babberik)

Babberich (old name "Babborga") is a village in the Dutch municipality of Zevenaar, located southeast of it in the region "De Liemers" in Gelderland. The village has about 2000 inhabitants (2006).

Like a large part of the current Liemers, Babberich did not join the Netherlands until 1816. The Duke of Guelders had once pledged these territories to the Duke of Cleves in the distant past, so originally Dutch it has long belonged to Germany. Babberich is now on the Dutch-German border, it used to be on the border of Frankish and Saxon influences that can both still be found in language and culture in the village and the rest of the Liemers.De history of Babberich is dominated by the castle "Halsaf" in the Babberichse Bos. This castle, which in the Middle Ages was still a real castle complete with drawbridge, was demolished in the 18th century and replaced by a house. One of the noble rights of Halsaf was the pigeon race. On the estate you can still see a white pigeon tower from 1785. Halsaf and the Babberich militia have been inextricably linked since its foundation in 1874. The occupant of the house (until 2004 the De Nerée family to Babberich), is president and patron of the militia. Babberich and the rest of the Liemers remained predominantly Roman Catholic because they did not belong to the Netherlands at the time of the Reformation.

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