Long time ago, there was a big Roman “villa” here; an estate with not only the villa but also included 7 big farms (called: Villare). In 700 after Chr. There already was mentioning of this settlement!

Later, Villian was mentioned in a notary paper from 1016, in which was mentioned that 2 of these farms were given to the Abbey of Aken.

The name Villian later transformed slowly to “Vijlen” with 2 dots. Although our village still is called “Viele” in local dialect.
The Hopschet was one of these 7 “rotten” (the remains of these old farm estates).

Hopschet got it’s name most likely from ‘Op Scheidt’, ‘op de Berg’, translated "on the mountain/dividing range for water".
The entrance of the Vijlenberg street, marked by a stone cross, is going to the top to a small hamlet called by locals as “Op ghene Hopschet”.

It is a very picturesque part of old-Vijlen. People say that the base of our “vakwerk”-house (the building style) is dated from 1485, although the official Heritage commission papers talk of early 16th Century. Living in a small piece of World Heritage… impossible to explain what a good feeling that gives!