History
The retail space is located under the residential complex ‘De Heerlijckheid’. An ode to the fascinating origins of Heemstede. A fiefdom was land belonging to a lord to which certain ‘lordly rights’ were attached. When Haarlem received city rights in 1245 and was delineated, the need to name the surrounding areas also grew. The Counts of Holland – William II and his son Floris V – had the noble task of transforming the villages outside Haarlem into separate districts. These new districts were either governed by aldermen or pledged to feudal lords. Heemstede itself was pledged to a nobleman from Holy, near Vlaardingen, named Reinier van Holy, who would later call himself ‘Van Heemstede’. Between 1284 and 1300, he built Heemstede Castle on the Spaarne. The castle was destroyed several times, until in 1810 it was so weak that it was demolished. The medieval foundations now lie beneath an estate called ‘Het Oude Slot’ (the old castle).
Photo source Noord-Hollands-Archief, Map of the Heerlijkheid Heemstede (1643) by Balthasar Florisz. Berckenrode