Schildwolde (

Gronings Gronings (; gos, Grunnegs or Grönnegs), is a collective name for some Friso-Saxon dialects spoken in the province of Groningen and around the Groningen border in Drenthe and Friesland. Gronings and the strongly related varieties in East ...

: ''Schewôl'') is a village in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of Groningen. It is part of the municipality of

Midden-Groningen Midden-Groningen (Gronings dialect, Gronings: ''Midden-Grunnen'') is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality with a population of 60,953 in the province of Groningen (province), Groningen, Netherlands. The municipality was forme ...

. It is known for its detached church tower from the 13th century.

History

Schildwolde was first mentioned in the 10th or 11th century as Scelduualda. The origin of the name is unclear and probably means swampy forest. In 1204, the Premonstratensian monastery of Gratiae Sanctae Mariae was founded in Schildwolde. It was originally a double monastery for monks and nuns. Later, only the

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

remained. In 1223 or 1224, there was a dispute between the monastery of Schildwolde and the monastery of , and angry peasants burned down the monastery and church, but the tower remained standing. The current tower displays 1289 as its year of construction, however it contains older parts, and the year was probably added during a 1829 reconstruction. The tower is tall, and has a square base. The convent was destroyed in 1594. In 1686, a

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

was built next to tower, however the two buildings are detached. Every year, from 20:00 on 31 December until 08:00 on 1 January, the bells in the tower are rung continuously to chase away evil spirits. On the night of 1964 to 1965, one of the bells was torn after 12 hours of service, and had to be repaired. In 1909, Schildwolde had a population of 897 people and was part of the municipality of

Slochteren Slochteren () is a village and former municipality with a population of 15,546 in the province of Groningen (province), Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. On 1 January 2018, Slochteren merged with Hoogezand-Sappemeer and Menterwolde, f ...

. Between 1929 and 1941, there was a joint railway station with Hellum in Schildwolde on the line to Weiwerd. In 2017, it became part of the municipality of

Notable people

Hendrik Goeman Borgesius Hendrik Goeman Borgesius (11 January 1847, Schildwolde, Slochteren – 18 January 1917, The Hague) was a Dutch politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands from 1877 until 1917, representing respectively Win ...

(1847–1917), politician and former Speaker of the House of Representatives

Gallery

File:Duivenslagpoort Schildwolde 01.JPG, Gate to a farm from 1695 File:SchildwoldeRM513614.jpg, House of Jeldinga File:Dorpsvlag Schildwolde.png, Village flag of 2019 File:SchildwoldeRM33815.jpg, Toll house

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Groningen (province) Midden-Groningen