Feanwâlden ( nl, Veenwouden) is a village in the Dantumadiel municipality of

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It had a population of around 3,430 in 2014. Together with the village of

Feanwâldsterwâl Feanwâldsterwâl ( nl, Veenwoudsterwal) is a village in the Dantumadiel and Tytsjerksteradiel municipality's of Friesland, the Netherlands. it had a population of around 420 in 2021, however Feanwâldsterwâl is not a statistical entity, and the p ...

, a former hamlet of Feanwâlden, it has a village interest association group under the name: ''Vereniging van Dorpsbelangen Veenwouden / Veenwoudsterwal e.o.''.

History

Feanwâlden originated from two small villages, Sint-Johanneswâld and Eslawâld. The first was near the

Skierstins The Skierstins is a medieval Stins, Stienhús built c. 1300 out of brick in Feanwâlden. It is the only remaining Stienhús in Friesland and is listed as Rijksmonument, number 11700 and is rated with a very high historical value. The building is f ...

while the second place was a mile further southwest. Sint-Johanneswâld was mentioned in 1439 as ''Sunte Johannis walde'' and 1450 as ''Sunte Johanneswald''. Eslawâld was mentioned in 1450 as ''Essalawald''. In 1421 there is also mention of ''Lillingwald'', possibly also referring to Eslawâld, as in a shortened version of ''es(se)lingawald'' but may also be a third and later disappeared place in the area at the southern edge of a vast peatland. The two places would have merged around 1500. In 1542 it was mentioned as ''Feenwalde'', in 1573 ''Veenwolden'', in 1664 ''Veenwolde'' and 1786 ''Veenwoude'' and ''Feenwoude''. The merger would have come about because Eslawald had to be partly closed due to the flooding caused by the peat extraction. The Cistercian monastery Klaarkamp was already working on this before 1436, the Skierstins had been recruited by the monastery for this. The occupation that remained of Eslawâld was still referred to in 1623 as ''Iselwolde''. For a long time, the village was a thin but elongated village, but in the course of the 19th century and 20th century, the then as ''Veenwouden'' mentioned village, at that time grew considerably. It has also had its own train station for some time. In 2008 the municipality Dantumadiel decided that it was going the replace all the official Dutch names within the municipality with the West Frisian names, meaning that Feanwâlden was from 2009 the official name for the village.

Notable buildings

* The

Veenwouden, de Schierstins RM11700 foto1 2013-08-25 16

Veenwouden, de Johanneskerk RM11701 foto52013-08-25 16

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feanwalden Populated places in Friesland Dantumadiel