| Beek | |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Native Name Lang: | nl |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Netherlands |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Gelderland |
| Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name2: | Berg en Dal |
| Pushpin Map: | Netherlands Gelderland#Netherlands |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in the province of Gelderland |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
| Elevation M: | 13 |
| Area Total Km2: | 4.41 |
| Population Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population Total: | 3,665 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 6573 |
| Area Code Type: | Dialing code |
| Area Code: | 024 |
| Coordinates: | 51.8292°N 5.9258°W |
Beek is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Berg en Dal, about 5 km east of Nijmegen. It was sometimes referred to as "Beek (bij Nijmegen)" or "Beek-Ubbergen" because there are several villages in the Netherlands called Beek.[3]
It was first mentioned in 814–815 as Bechi, and means brook.[4] The village dates from the early Middle Ages and was an agricultural community. In 1840, it was home to 715 people.[3] In the late 19th century it became a popular place to build villas. The tower of the Saint Bartholomew's Church has elements which probably date from the 11th century. The current layout dates from 1650. Between 1948 and 1950, it was extensively repaired due to war damage.[5]
Beek was a separate municipality until 1 January 1818, when it merged with "Ooij en Persingen" forming the municipality of Ubbergen.[6] On 1 January 2015 "Ubbergen", "Groesbeek" and "Millingen aan de Rijn" merged into the enlarged municipality of Groesbeek,[7] renamed Berg en Dal from 1 January 2016.[8]
Beek is part of the Lower Rhine Heights, a cross-border moraine that was formed in the penultimate Ice Age (the Saale glaciation), by the impoundments of glaciers and glacier tongues coming from the northeast.
The Kabouterboom is a chestnut (castanea sativa) in the valley of Beek. The tree dates from the 17th century, and has a trunk of 8 to 9 metres, and is the thickest tree of the Netherlands.[9]