Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: gemeente West Betuwe

Nowadays the Hervormde kerk (Reformed Church) - originally named Cathrijnekerk consists of a 19th-century nave and a detached, 15th-century tower. The oldest mention of a church dates back to 1395. The brick tower dates back to the second half of the 15th century and is built in late-Gothic style. The construction was plagued by flooding from the river Linge, which regularly washed away the soil from underneath the tower. The builders tried to correct this problem half way up, which only caused it to lean to one side. In the 18th century, the upper part of the tower was demolished to prevent the it from toppling over all-together. The rest of the church was also demolished after it had been badly damaged by a hurricane in 1674. It was replaced by the current Reformed Church in 1844. The remaining tower is 17.5 metres high and still consists of two sections. The top of the tower is tilted 115 cm off-centre. Its angle is in fact almost similar to that of its famous Italian counterpart, the “leaning tower of Pisa”. In the tiny churchyard one of the graves belongs to “Cornelia Pisa”. Cornelia’s name and the tower’s crooked appearance have contributed to the tower´s nickname as the scheve toren van Pisa te Acquoy (leaning tower of Pisa in Acquoy).

The Reformed church was built in 1865 and replaced a church building dating from the year 1692. The church was built in English neo-Gothic style, using an ochre-yellow stone. The building has a striking main spire flanked by 4 smaller corner towers. During the restoration of around 1975 the church was painted white, but in 2004 the church regained its original colour. The church is situated next to Castle Neerijnen . In 1996 volunteers started renovating the completely neglected castle garden (PiP3).

Before the year of 1780 there was a post mill on the site of this mill. That mill had been blown over and repaired, but in the year 1780 it was demolished and replaced by the present hexagonal mill. The Molen van Waardenburg is one of the eight remaining hexagonal mills in the Netherlands. For many years the mill belonged to the Waardenburg-Neerijnen estate. In the First World War, the windmill was used to generate electricity. After the high water levels in the river Waal in 1995, the dike of the river was made heavier and raised, after which the mill was also raised by one and a half meters. Because of its location, the corn mill is considered being one of the more beautiful mills in the Netherlands. Since 2009 the mill is owned by Stichting Geldersch Landschap & Kasteelen , a foundation for the protection of nature and landscape in the province of Gelderland. The mill is still regularly used for grinding grain by volunteers.

The first Kasteel Neerijnen (Castle Neerijnen) was probably built around 1350 and was originally called Klingelenburg . It was the first noble house in Neerijnen. The inhabitants of the castle carried the name “De Cock van Neerijnen”. The present castle was built around 1600 on the foundations of the older one. It was radically rebuilt in the 18th century and was extended in the late 19th century. Together with the Kasteel Waardenburg (PiP4) built in 1265, it forms one estate. From 1700 onwards both castles have always had the same owners. After the “De Cock” family, the estate was owned by various noble families. At the end of 1827, the estate came into the hands of “Frederik Willem Floris Theodorus baron van Pallandt”. This family owned the estate until 1971. On May 6 of that year the last baroness of “Pallandt van Neerijnen en Waardenburg” died. Three years later the estate came into the hands of the Stichting Gelders Landschap & Kasteelen , a foundation for the protection of nature and landscape in the province of Gelderland. From 1980 to 2019, Kasteel Neerijnen was in use as the town hall of the former municipality of Neerijnen. The castle garden - situated between the castle and the reformed church of Neerijnen - had been seriously neglected for a long time. Since 1996 this garden has been renovated and maintained by volunteers, taking into account the original layout. The garden consists of several parts, including a herb garden, vegetable garden, flower garden and a rose garden.