Cities in the Netherlands
North Sea Region
The Story of Castricum
Already known in the 10th century as Castrichem (from the Latin for ‘the settlement in the field’), its villagers often were at odds with its neighbours (such as those of Egmond) over ill-planned sea dikes built by both which diverted the sea and flooded arable land in each other's territory. The area in the 18th century housed a manor estate (Kronenburg).
The village had some 230 inhabitants in 1840, the municipality which includes the village of Bakkum now has 23,000. Earlier area hamlets bore such names as Duinzijde, Schulpstet, Noordend and Oosterbuurt.
Archeological research has revealed traces of local settlements built a few centuries b.C. During the German occupation in World War II, some 6,000 villagers were forcibly moved elsewhere and 300 homes were razed to make way for bunkers of the Atlantikwall. The old, mostly 12th century church was spared however. From an agrarian village in the 19th century, it developed its seaside attraction from the 1920s on.