Cycle route The Mystery of the Golden Peel Helmet

Story of the route

Centuries ago a robber baron and his henchmen were travelling through this section of Brabant, plundering villages in the Peel. Brave farmers from what is now Someren, Asten and Deurne came rushing from different directions with scythes and peat shovels. The robbers fled east but, even before they reached the Peel plain, they were overtaken and killed by the angry farmers.

Only the robber baron was able to escape on his speedy steed. But in the darkness, he lost the trail and rode full speed into a section of swamp called the Dolle Moer. He never reached the other side. He disappeared with everything he had stolen ...

End of story, you would think. But that was not the case ...

Locals here know the Peel to be a beautiful yet sinister place where there have been mysterious disappearances since time immemorial.

Once a shepherd with his flock and dog disappeared into thin air. It was two centuries later that a peat cutter found a large glassy lump: remains of wool from the herd that disappeared. It has been said that the shepherd and his animals ended up in one of the dreaded armies of the dead. An army of the dead resembles a passable path that is covered with lush peat moss. But appearances can be deceiving. As soon as you stand on it, it suddenly tips over and you end up in a bottomless swamp. Your death is the double death of the Peel: simultaneously drowning and suffocating ...

Was that by any chance the fate of the robber baron as well?

No one knows exactly where in the Groote Peel the robber baron disappeared. People scanned the countryside from a high vantage point, because whoever found the robber baron would also find treasure.

Throughout the centuries, many variants of this saga arose. It has been said that it was a knight but there are also stories of a high-ranking officer in the Roman army! For years both young and old, seized by gold fever, searched everywhere in the Peel – on Treasure Hill especially. But, contrary to what its name suggests, the treasure was not found there. However, the gold fever has never really disappeared altogether ...

No one ever dared to look on the Wegh van Meijl op Seven, a winding road that was used already during Roman times. This road was not safe on misty days and dark nights. That was when the roaming baron would attempt to lure passers-by with his cries for help. Whoever felt pity and left the path to help him disappeared in the depths of the swamp, just as he did ...

And yet, people hoped that the robber baron would be found some day. Only then would the Wegh van Meijl op Seven be safe again. The Dolle Moer, a large black fen in the Peel, would dry up and become covered with vegetation. And the one to find it would be richer than anyone else in the Peel!

Centuries passed and the Peel was slowly being reclaimed. Canals were dug and peat cutters cut peat. It was hard work and poorly paid. The firm Steegh en Esser appointed peat cutters Loevus Pier and Gebbel to cut peat west of the village of Helenaveen. They were not happy with the task: the area was sunken and the peat was thin. Such hard work for little reward!

On 17 June 1910, Gebbel dug into the ground with his spade and hit something hard. An old kettle? “Wait!” shouted Loevus Pier. He used his bare hands to dig out the object. The peat cutters rinsed it off in a small stream. It was a golden helmet! Loevus Pier put the helmet on and announced: “Here stands the emperor of Helenaveen!” They found more items in the peat pit: horse hooves, a horse bell, shoes, a small wine barrel. But it was the helmet that caused gold fever to strike Gebbel and how!

Waving his cutting knife about, Gebbel kept all other peat cutters at a distance. Although Gebbel and Loevus Pier had found the helmet together, it was Gebbel who took it home.

The mayor of Meijel was tipped off. He said to Gebbel: “I am rich, but you are much richer.” Gebbel wanted to cash in on the Golden Helmet. He put the expensive helmet on the back of his bicycle and visited markets in the area. For ten cents, visitors could view the helmet.

The Golden Peel Helmet was eventually purchased by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Museum of Antiquities) in Leiden. Gebbel received 1200 guilders – a huge amount at that time. The municipality of Deurne and the Steegh en Esser firm also received hefty sums. And co-finder Loevus Pier? He received nothing at all ...

But the Golden Peel Helmet did not bring happiness. Gebbel purchased a house with his proceeds. But he became ill and unable to work. The little money he had left was used to purchase medicine and he died penniless.

But what about the old saga? Were the robber baron and the Roman officer one and the same? Has this resolved the mystery of the roaming baron? Or has the Land van de Peel not yet relinquished all of its treasures? It is said that, on misty days and dark nights, a call for help is still heard once in a while in the Peel. If you hear it, be on your guard ...

The Golden Peel Helmet is something that continues to occupy people in the Peel to this day ...

More information can be found about this in the Klok & Peel Museum. The Roman influence can be tasted in the many small restaurants that enrich Asten, Deurne and Someren. And who knows? Maybe you will find a dish that the roaming baron once tasted ...