Overview
The Kesenbult is a small hill at the end of the Kiefteweg, near the green border crossing between the Netherlands and Germany. At the top of the hill stands a centuries-old boundary stone made of Bentheim sandstone. The stone bears the coats of arms of Guelders and Münster, the year 1766 and the number 171. It has therefore marked a formerly important border crossing for more than 250 years.
Trade route and border crossing
In the eighteenth century, the Kiefteweg, formerly known as Bodendijk, formed part of the trade route between the Duchy of Guelders and the Bishopric of Münster. Not only merchants travelled this way, but also royal couriers, or messengers. The name Bodendijk refers to these couriers.
Cross Chapel
Alongside trade and traffic, the Kesenbult also played a part in religious life. After the Reformation, when public Catholic worship in Aalten was severely restricted, Catholics from Aalten and Bredevoort crossed the border here to attend services in the Münsterland.
Some two hundred metres across the border stood the Cross Chapel, built in 1675 on the Reyerding estate by order of the Bishop of Münster, Bernhard van Galen (Bommen Berend). The timber, octagonal chapel became the religious centre for exiled Catholics.
According to tradition, worshippers made their way to the chapel in work clothes and carrying their tools so that they would not be recognised as churchgoers.