Roggel / Rogle

An illustration showing the fragment of baptismal font basin lying upside down in the churchyard appeared in the Limburg's Jaarboek VI (1899) [cf. FontNotes]. De Maasgouw; Orgaan voor Limburgsche Geschiedenis, Taal- en Letterkunde jrg 26, 1904, Nummer 3 informs that there was already a chapel in Roggel in the 13th century. In 1477 it was demolished and replaced by a pseudo-basilica. In 1691 the church was destroyed by fire, only to be rebuilt. In 1853 it was greatly enlarged. All this took place in neo-Gothic style. The tower was partially blown up at the end of 1944. Naspeuringen van Paul Theelen: Archeologische vondsten in het veen, 14 augustus 1921 HET DUVELKE VAN HET ZUIDEN, reported that the church of Roggel is located on a height and has two naves. In the cemetery is a part of the beautiful Romanesque baptismal font. Later information tells of that piece of old baptismal font in Roggel near the church, was bought and sold in 1921 in Amsterdam. A communication from Pol Herman to BSI (e-mail of 19 June 2022) notes: "I also found another reference to it in an old newpaper article: On December 18, 1928, a former chaplain from Tegelen wrote, anonymously, in the Nieuwe Venlosche Courant: At Roggel lay, and perhaps still lies, an upside-down, defaced baptismal font against the wall of the churchyard, and serves as a pedestal for the village crier. This seems to be a twelfth-century font, the four heads probably being chopped off." [NB: present wherabouts of the fragment unknown]