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Herenthout (Municipality, Province of Antwerp, Belgium)

Municipal flag of Herenthout - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 18 January 2006

Presentation of Herenthout
Municipal flag of Herenthout

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Presentation of Herenthout

The municipality of Herenthout (8,462 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 2,355 ha) is located in southern Kempen, 25 km south-east of Antwerp. The plan of the municipality, with a triangular market place, dates back to the Frankish times. Herenthout was made of two parishes, Sts. Peter and Paul and St. Gummarus for the hamlet of Wiekevorst, which seceded in the 16th century.

Herenthout was known in 1186 as Herenholts, that is "a wood with hedges of beeches".
The carnival of Herenthout was celebrated for the first time in 1892, which made of it the oldest carnaval in Belgium, as confirmed in 1978 by Minister of the Dutch Affairs Rika De Backer. This explains why Herenthout is nicknamed stoetersdorp, the processioners' village. The National Museum of Wood Industry (Nationaal Houtambachtenmuseum) "De Wimpe", introducing cabinetmaking, clog-making, cartwrighting, forgeing and cooperage, is located in Herenthout.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 18 January 2006

Municipal flag of Herenthout

The municipal flag of Herenthout is vertically divided blue-yellow with a yellow key in the blue stripe.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel [w2v02], the flag and arms were adopted by the Municipal Council on 3 October 1985, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 11 March 1986 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 8 July 1986.
The colours and the keys are taken from the municipal arms.

According to Van evers en heiligen. Wapens en vlaggen van de gemeenten in de provincie Antwerpen [pbd98], the first arms of Herenthout were granted on 6 October 1819 and confirmed on 7 December 1844. They show St. Peter, the patron saint of the town, holding two keys. The arms were designed after an old seal used by the municipality; since no colour was specified, the Dutch national colours were used, and they were not modified after the independence of Belgium.
On the arms adopted in 1986, St. Peter holds only one key and has on his left a golden shield with a red embattled horizontal stripe.
There are two versions (or - argent) of such a shield as the (van) Herlaer or Herlaar family arms; Herlaar is a place name (fief) assumed as a family name by Hendrik Kinschot of Van Schoten in the 13th Century.

Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat, Jan Mertens & Ivan Sache, 19 January 2006