Woensel is a former town 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

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to t ...

, but nowadays a borough of

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to t ...

, Woensel is mentioned in a document from 1107; it was the seat of a deanage of the

diocese of Liège In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. According to the German mythologist

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of t ...

the name Woensel is a reference to the Germanic god

Wodan Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victor ...

(Odin in Norse mythology). The suffix would have been an abbreviation of either ''-sala'' ("hall") or ''-loo'' ("forest"). Around 1200,

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Dommel The Dommel is a small river in Belgium and the Netherlands, left tributary of the Dieze. It is 120 km long, of which 85 km in the Netherlands. The Dommel takes in water from the Keersop, Tongelreep, Run, Gender and Kleine Dommel streams and merg ...

river to the south of Woensel, grew into a local market town that took more political prominence, but never surpassed Woensel in prosperity or population. Woensel was a separate municipality until the fusion, in 1920, of Eindhoven proper (i.e. within the town walls) and its surrounding villages into a single municipality. Today, Woensel is Eindhoven's largest

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

, with about 110,000 inhabitants; it is mostly covered by urban neighbourhoods erected between 1950 and 1990. Woensel offers very few places of more than local interest, being almost entirely a residential area; Eindhoven's main

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

venues Venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a concer ...

and industry are in other parts of town. Until 1998, the international head office of

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

was located in Woensel. Currently, this building is the seat of the Dutch organisation of Philips. Known to at least Eindhoven's inhabitants are * ''de Woenselse markt'', the heart of old Woensel town in classical triangular shape, which hosts Eindhoven's main market every Saturday; * ''Winkelcentrum Woensel'', a large shopping center at the heart of the Woensel area. It was renamed ''WoensXL'' in 2006, but ''Winkelcentrum Woensel'' is still in use. * Eindhoven's two hospitals (''Catharina''- and ''Maxima Medisch Centrum)'') *

Eckart Eckart is a German surname, and may refer to: * Anselm Eckart (1721–1809), German Jesuit missionary * Carl Eckart * Dennis E. Eckart (born 1950), American lawyer, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives * Dietrich Eckart (1868–1923) ...

castle * Woensel warriors (" New Kids Nitro" Movie). There is also a World War II cemetery of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...

References

External links

old pictures of Woensel, with explanations (in Dutch)
Former municipalities of North Brabant Boroughs of Eindhoven {{NorthBrabant-geo-stub