Waalwijk is the biggest town in an area called the Langstraat (Long street) in the north of the current province, named after the road between Geertruidenberg and 's-Hertogenbosch. Although originally in Holland, in 1232 Waalwijk was sold to the duke of Brabant. The rest of the Langstraat remained a part of Holland and became increasingly more protestant. In 1815 all of the Langstraat became part of the province of Noord-Brabant. In 1922 the nearby villages Besoyen and Baardwijk were added to the Waalwijk municipality and today are fully integrated in the town. Villages that belong to the Waalwijk municipality are Sprang-Capelle and Waspik.
Waalwijk
The reformed church or St. Jan is a late-Gothic cruciform church from the mid-15th century. This church was originally built at the border between Holland and Brabant, with the western part standing in the village of Besoyen, Holland. After forty years of war the Twelve Years-truce (1609-1621) gave Waalwijk the opportunity to restore the damaged church, except for the tower that had stood in Besoyen, which had become protestant. In 1616-1617 the church was repaired and was given a new front. After the war continued in 1621 the church changed hands several times, and became protestant permanently in 1648, when the war ended.
Location: Grotestraat 121
As the old church was not returned to the Catholics a new church was needed. In 1837 a church in neo-Classical style was built, which was replaced by this exotic looking building in 1925. This is H.W. Valk's church of St. Johannes de Doper (St. John the Baptist), the biggest dome-church in the country.
Location: Sint Jansplein
The reformed church of Besoyen, with attached vicarage, dates from 1610 and was built during the Twelve Years-Truce, when Brabant was still in Spanish hands and the church of Waalwijk therefore remained catholic. As Besoyen was in Holland, and thus officially protestant, a new church was needed. The church is built in a traditional style that is quite common for protestant churches of that period, especially in villages (see also: the first protestant churches).
Location: Grotestraat 24
The Catholic O.L. Vrouwe Onbevlekte Ontvangenis ("Our Lady Immaculate Conception) in Besoyen was built in 1926-1927. It's a design by architect Dom. Paul Bellot in an expressionistic style. The future of this building is unclear.
Location: Pastoor v. Kesselhof 18
Baardwijk, which until 1922 had been a seperate commune, had had its own church since c. 1300. This Romanesque tower is the only remaining part of the otherwise in 1912 demolished church.
Location: Winterdijk 58
The protestants of Baardwijk had left the medieval church for this new reformed church in 1911, an octagonal building with neo-Gothic elements, designed by K.C. Suyling.
Location: Loeffstraat 113
The Roman Catholic church of Baardwijk, the St. Clemens, is a neo-Gothic church from 1896-1899, designed by N.J.H. van Groenendael.
Location: Loeffstraat 50
Waalwijk's town hall is an A.J. Kropholler design from from 1931-1932 in Traditionalist style, also known as Delftse School. This building, with its impressive stepped gable, was inspired by the town halls of Gouda en Naarden. Kropholler built various more buildings in the same style at the same square in the following three decades.
Location: Raadhuisplein 2
The reformed church of Sprang is a well preserved late-Gothic building from the 15th and 16th centuries. The western part of the nave is wider than the eastern part, evidence that the church was meant to be replaced, a job never completed. Neither was the tower.
Location: Kerkstraat 34
Capelle's reformed church is an octagonal building in Classical style, built in c. 1750.
Location: Hoofdstraat 25
The reformed church of Waspik is a rather small three-aisled Gothic church. The choir was built in the mid-15th century, the nave and transept date from the second half of that century.
Location: Raadhuisstraat 17
The St. Bartholomeus is one of two catholic churches in Waspik. It was built in neo-Classical style in 1837-1841 and was designed by E. de Kruyff.
Location: Dorpsplein 37
The other catholic church is the St. Theresia in the south of Waspik. The church, originally built as part of a carmelite monastery, was designed in a Traditionalist style by Ph. Donders and was built in 1925-1927.
Location: Carmelietenstraat 60