In Brabant, there are no fewer than 23 towns and villages that have a ‘Peperstraat’ or a place name referring to ‘pepper’. Actress and theatre maker Marja van Trier, a specialist in theatre and landscape history, became intrigued by this. She is not the first. For over 200 years, people have been wondering why there are so many ‘Peperstraten’ and writing articles about it. The Dongen Local History Society has invited her to speak on this topic.

Marja van Trier found and visited more than 100 historic ‘Peper’ street names in the Netherlands. Most of these street names existed even before the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was founded. In Flanders, there were even ‘Peper’ streets as early as the 12th century. In her lecture, Marja reviews the many publications that preceded her story. An important discovery Marja van Trier made regarding these historic ‘Peper’ streets was that they often ran from the waterfront to the centre of a town or village. There was therefore certainly a link to transport by water. In the first part of her lecture, Marja van Trier outlines the process that led to a completely new interpretation of the old names. The second part focuses on the Dongen area.

The talk will take place at the Cammeleur and begins at 8.00 pm. Admission is free for members of the local history society; for non-members, the charge is €2.