Polsbroek

Geschiedenis

Polsbroek is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of Lopik, and lies about 10 km southeast of Gouda. The village of Polsbroek consists of a ribbon of farms on both sides of the Benschopse Wetering, with a small centre on the west side of the village.In 2001, the village centre of Polsbroek had 421 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.06 km², and contained 143 residences. The wider statistical area of Polsbroek, which covers the complete former municipality, including the ribbon of farms and the hamlet of Polsbroekerdam, has a population of 1190, and an area of about 11 km².HistoryIn the early 12th century Polsbroek itself was called first Pulzabruch, chancing into Pulsebroch in 1155, to Pusbruch, Polsbroic, about 1296 and 1317, and than to Polsbroek. Since 1155 the lords of Polsbroek are able to speak the high middle and low justice over their territory.Until the end of the 18th century, Noord-Polsbroek was a lage heerlijkheid or schoutambt, the lowest category of local jurisdictions, while Zuid-Polsbroek was a vrije en hoge heerlijkheid owned by the De Graeff family from Amsterdam. As a free a high fief, Zuid-Polsbroek was an independent of the provinces Holland or Utrecht, like the larger Barony of IJsselstein to the east. Noord-Polsbroek was itself a part of that Barony.