The Gebodenlinde of Hilvarenbeek

Before a village had a noticeboard, it had a tree. Hilvarenbeek's aldermen stood under this lime to read out the local decrees, which is what a gebodenlinde is: a proclamation lime. It sheltered the linen market as well, and served as the courthouse tree. Its predecessor died in 1675 and the village did not wait around. A document dated 22 April 1676 records that a young lime had recently been planted on the Vrijthof. Whether the tree standing there today is that one or a 1704 replacement has never been settled, which is why the age comes as a band of roughly 320 to 350 years rather than a date. bomenbieb flags the uncertainty itself. Whatever the year, it has become substantial: 6.21 metres round and 23 metres tall, out on the open square beside the church, the water pump and the bandstand, with a bench underneath. The heavy limbs needed structural support in 1974 and got it. And it is still being arranged for. Omroep Brabant reported that the municipality is working out how to improve the tree's growing conditions, giving the roots more space, air and water. Three hundred and fifty years after the aldermen used it as their public address system, the village is still making decisions about this lime.