The area traditionally known as the Kattenberg was for a long time the northernmost and highest part of the village of Aalten.
Today, Kattenberg roughly covers the area around the beginning of Lichtenvoordsestraatweg and Varsseveldsestraatweg, the Livestock Market, as far as the junction with Berkenhovestraat and the beginning of Oosterkerkstraat.
The origin of the name ‘Kattenberg’ is not entirely clear. It may be a corruption of ‘Kaotenberg’ or ‘Kottenberg’, possibly meaning a ‘hill with small farm cottages’. Another explanation refers to a legend associated with the Kattenberg pump.
The Kattenberg pump
A distinctive water pump topped by a figure of a cat stands on the Kattenberg. It originally stood at the junction of Lichtenvoordsestraatweg and Berkenhovestraat, but was moved to the opposite side of Lichtenvoordsestraatweg sometime in the second half of the twentieth century.
This was once a neighbourhood pump where local residents came to collect their water. The pump was maintained jointly by the neighbourhood. Remarkably, despite its elevated position, the Kattenberg pump continued to provide water even during the driest summers.
The witch of the Kattenberg
According to an old tradition, a well was dug here in 1612 and from then on supplied clear, cool water. Finding water at one of the highest points in the area was regarded as a miracle. The witch of Zieuwent (Triene Langhfeldes) also heard about it. She was said to be able to transform herself into a cat with ease and, in that form, flew to Aalten on her broom to see the miracle for herself.
Above the well she was supposedly so startled that she fell nearby. The cat — the witch — is said to have sat on the pump for decades, until one day she suddenly disappeared. Years later she showed her cat’s face again and settled back in her familiar spot, this time accompanied by three kittens. With witches, after all, anything is possible.
