Heeze / Héésj

Begraafplaats De Oude Kerkhof Heeze [https://www.erfgoedgeowiki.nl/index.php/Begraafplaats_De_Oude_Kerkhof_Heeze] [accessed 18 December 2021] informs that the medieval church of Heeze, Reformed since 1648, had been abandoned by the Protestant community in favour of a chapel closer to the village, soon falling into disrepair; after its being sold to the Roman Catholic community it was demolished in 1828 (except for the tower) and its materials used in the construction of a new RC church in the village; the tower was demolished in turn in 1852. A source supplied by Pol Herman to BSI (e-mail of 7 December 2021), Petrus Norbertus Panken te Heeze en Leende by Drs.H.Mandos, in Heemkronijk (1964, jaargang 3, nummer 3, pages 40-45) reported that Schoolmaster Panken from Bergeijk (1819-1904) visited Heeze together with his cousin on Wednesday, August 22, 1855. After an overnight stay in the hotel 'In den Jager' in the Kapelstraat, the two visited the castle of Heeze in the morning where they were shown around by one of the young ladies. He noted in his diary: We made this visit to the castle between eight and ten o'clock, and half an hour later we left the village along the site of the church tower, which had been demolished in 1852, and which indicated a great age. The cemetery there now serves only for the burial of the corpses of the Protestant Congregation. An astonishing mass of rubble still lays from the tower. Living near this churchyard is the farmer P. Smulders, where I saw a medieval baptismal font, of blue limestone, most probably from the old parish church which had long since been demolished, about whose size, shape, etc. I then made some inquiries. This font is now used as a pump trough. Its diameter is 0.9 cubit, the thickness of the walls is 1 palm, the depth, measured inside 3 and outside 4 palms. Pol Herman adds that the font has not been heard of since. A further communication from Pol Herman to BSI (e-mail of 9 February 2022) adds: the author of Handelingen van het provinciaal genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen in Noordbrabant, over het jaar 1859, ’s Hertogenbosch, Gebroeders Muller, Uitgevers van het Genootschap, 1859, reports a letter from Peter Norbertus Panken, dated 4th of October 1856, in which Panken writes that he has encountered a font similar to Lage-Mierde at Heeze: "Te Heeze, bij Leende, zo schrijft mij Panken verder, bij P. Smulders, nabij de standplaats der oude Parochiekerk, zag ik in augustus van het voorgaande jaar de bak, in alles nagenoeg op dien van Lage-Mierde gelijkend, die hem tot pompbak diende."