Noordwijk aan Zee was founded around 1200 as a fishing village. Until the beginning of the 19th century, fishing remained its primary business, but then began to be replaced by the growing tourism industry. Nowadays because of its long sandy beaches, it is a popular resort town with 1,000,000 overnight stays per year. It has a lighthouse and aKNRM rescue station. Furthermore, it has a reformed church (1647) with a pulpit from the 17th century.
Noordwijk aan Zee is rated as the 12th richest location in the Netherlands. Beer magnate Freddy Heineken has built a villa there with the characteristic green roof.
A small part of the indigenous population of Noordwijk aan Zee speaks Noordwijks, a very original Dutch dialect.
A place of pilgrimage Noordwijk’s history dates back to 2000 BC. This is when the first traces of inhabitants were recorded, with the torture of Jeroen the priest in 857. Jeroen, a Scottish Benedictine monk who came to Noordwijk in 847 to carry out his mission work and build a chapel, could have been the first priest of Noordwijk. His life came to an abrupt end in 857 when he was beheaded by ransackingNormans. His name lived on however, as more than a hundred years later in 980 a Roman chapel was built in his honour. This chapel became a popular destination for pilgrims. In 1303 a large stone church was built on the site of the chapel, known as the Middle Aged gothic Great Church, or Sint Jeroen’s. Sint Jeroen’s skull served as an important relic. Noordwijk soon became known as a place of pilgrimage, which was officially confirmed by the Bishop of Utrecht in 1429. Sint Jeroen’s church developed over time into a pilgrims’ church, which provided Noordwijk with a considerable income. However, the 80 years war put an end to this. Only by paying a substantial sum to William of Orange’s army could the church be saved during the Iconoclastic Fury of 1566.[citation needed] To be on the
