{{Infobox settlement | name = Onstwedde | settlement_type = Village | image_skyline = 20190827 Nicolaaskerk1 Onstwedde.jpg | image_caption = Nicolaas Church in 2008 | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Netherlands | subdivision_type1 = Province | subdivision_name1 = Groningen | subdivision_type2 = Municipality | subdivision_name2 = Stadskanaal | established_title = Established | established_date = 875 | population_footnotes = <ref name="stat">{{cite web|url=https://www.cbs.nl/-/media/_excel/2021/48/kwb-2021.xls |title=Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2021 |website=Central Bureau Statistics |access-date=26 February 2022}}</ref> | population_total = 2,960 | population_as_of = 2021 | population_density_km2 = auto | area_total_km2 = 40.57 | area_footnotes = <ref name="stat"/> | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 9591 | area_code_type = Area code | area_code = 0599 | elevation_footnotes = <ref name="AHN">{{cite web |url = http://www.ahn.nl/postcodetool |title = Postcodetool for 9591AA |language = nl |work = Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland |publisher = Het Waterschapshuis |access-date = 26 February 2022 |archive-date = 21 September 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053543/http://www.ahn.nl/postcodetool |url-status = dead }}</ref> | elevation_m = 5 | website = [http://www.onstwedde.info/ www.onstwedde.info] | pushpin_map = Netherlands Groningen#Netherlands | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = Location of Onstwedde in the province of Groningen | coordinates = {{coord|53|2|7|N|7|2|28|E|region:NL|display=inline, title}} }}
'''Onstwedde''' ({{IPA|nl|ɔnstˈʋɛdə}}) is a village in the region of Westerwolde, in Groningen province in the Netherlands. It is part of the municipality of Stadskanaal and is located some kilometers to the northeast of the center of Stadskanaal, and also southeast from Pekela.
Onstwedde was also the former name of the municipality of Stadskanaal, until 1969.<ref>{{Repertorium Nederlandse Gemeenten}}</ref> After Sellingen, Onstwedde is the only village where the Westerwold dialect is still spoken.
== History == Onstwedde was first mentioned in 875 as Uneswido in documents of the Werden Abbey.<ref name="hist">{{cite web|url=https://onstwedde.info/algemene-info/het-dorp.html |title=Onstwedde - Het dorp |website=Onstwedde |access-date=26 February 2022 |language=nl }}</ref> The name means the forest (-wido similar to the English wood) of Une (first name).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://etymologiebank.nl/trefwoord/onstwedde |title=Onstwedde - (geografische naam) |website=Etymologie Bank |access-date=26 February 2022 |language=nl}}</ref> The village is a double ''esdorp'', a communal pasture surrounded by houses. The northern pasture was called Wold, and the southern pasture Loug.<ref name="monument">{{cite web|url=https://dbnl.org/tekst/sten009monu04_01/sten009monu04_01_0093.php |title=Onstwedde |author=Redmer Alma |year=1998 |page=180 |publisher=Waanders Uitgevers |location=Zwolle |isbn=90 400 9258 3}}</ref> Onstwedde was a part of Westerwolde, a region dominated by raised bogs which formed the natural border between Groningen, East Frisia and the Prince-Bishopric of Münster.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.delpher.nl/nl/boeken/view?identifier=MMKB24:079874000:00018&query=Winschoterzijl&coll=boeken&rowid=10 |title=Uit Pekela's verleden |last1=Bosgra| first1=W.H.|year=1930 |location=Oude Pekela |publisher=Feringa |language=nl|pages=9-11 |access-date=26 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="plaats">{{cite web |url=https://www.plaatsengids.nl/onstwedde |title=Onstwedde |website=Plaatsengids |access-date=26 February 2022 |language=nl |archive-date=30 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130073514/https://www.plaatsengids.nl/onstwedde |url-status=dead }}</ref> Onstwedde is located in the valley of the {{ill|Mussel-Aa|nl}} river,<ref name="monument"/> and was a fertile island surrounded by bogs on all sides.<ref name="hist"/>
A dominant feature of Onstwedde is the Nicolaas Church which was constructed around 1500. It has a {{convert|41|m}} tall tower, which is at least one and a half century older. The walls are {{convert|2|m}} thick, and it used to be surrounded by a moat and could be accessed via a drawbridge. It is assumed that the church was also used as a fortification.<ref name="plaats"/>
Onstwedde used to be the main village of the region.<ref name="monument"/> In 1765, the city of Groningen started to dig the Stadskanaal to the south of Onstwedde in order to exploit the peat.<ref name="stadskanaal">{{cite web |url=https://www.plaatsengids.nl/stadskanaal |title=Stadskanaal |website=Plaatsengids |access-date=26 February 2022 |language=nl |archive-date=15 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815014715/https://plaatsengids.nl/stadskanaal |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1840, the population of Onstwedde was 2,405 people,<ref name="plaats"/> and Stadskanaal had 1,980 inhabitants.<ref name="stadskanaal"/> Stadskanaal soon surpassed Onstwedde, and in 1882, the town hall was moved to Stadskanaal.<ref name="monument"/> In 1969, the municipality was renamed Stadskanaal.<ref name="stadskanaal"/>
On 20 April 1943, the Royal Air Force bomber ''Mosquito II'' crashed and burnt in Smeerling near Onstwedde. The crew members are buried in a Commonwealth War Grave on the municipal cemetery.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/24022/Commonwealth-War-Graves-Municipal-Cemetery.htm |title=Commonwealth War Graves Municipal Cemetery |website=Traces of War |access-date=26 February 2022}}</ref>
== Geography and tourism == Near the village are two relatively high hills of around ten meters above sea level: the Onstwedder Holte, with a 198-hectare common (the largest in Westerwolde), and the common near Veenhuizen. These hills are moraines from the Saalian, the penultimate ice age. On the north side of the village, on a flank of the Onstwedder Holte, lies the Dr. Hommesbos, a nature reserve of the Groninger Landschap (Groningen Landscape). South of the village were some of Westerwolde's oldest arable lands: the 'Hoge en Reuve Oerde' and the Oerde.<ref>Het woord 'oerde' is verwant met het Nedersaksische woord 'woerde' en verwijst naar een blokvormig perceel nabij een nederzetting in de middeleeuwen. P.N. Noomen, "Domaniale goederen: de ligging van de domeinerven". In: Abbes, J. et al. (2021), ''Landschapsbiografie van Westerwolde.'' p. 114. De beide oerden bij Onstwedde worden genoemd op p. 153 (Wiersma, J. & T. Spek, "Het dorpslandschap van Onstwedde rond 1500").</ref>
Onstwedde is one of the places in the Netherlands where salt domes are found in the subsurface.
The eastern side of the village is characterized by river dunes, small woods and copses, ash trees, and low-lying land along the Mussel A and Ruiten Aa streams and their former courses.
== Education == The two elementary schools of Onstwedde merged into a single entity. Since 2011, the kindergarten, elementary school and high school moved into MFA De Bast, a single building. Onstwedde is one of the few places in the Netherlands where all educational facilities are concentrated in a single building.<ref name="hist"/>
== Smeerling == thumb|Smeerling 18 The hamlet of Smeerling is located on the road to Vlagtwedde.<ref name="illustr">{{cite book|url=https://www.delpher.nl/nl/boeken/view?identifier=MMKB24:062881000:00092&query=smeerling&coll=boeken&page=2&rowid=7 |title=Geïllustreerde gids voor Westerwolde |year=1907 |page=6 |author1=G. Herwig |author2=R.H. Herwig |publisher=Unknown}}</ref> It contains about ten houses and is home to approximately 25 people, and is considered a part of Onstwedde for statistical and postal services.<ref name="smeerling">{{cite web|url=https://www.plaatsengids.nl/smeerling |title=Smeerling |website=Plaatsengids |access-date=1 March 2022 |language=nl}}</ref>
There are eight farms in the hamlet which are in similar condition to the 1830 situation.<ref name="beschermd"/> Five of the farms are monuments,<ref name="smeerling"/> the others are from a later date, but traditionally constructed and match the surroundings. In 1972, the entire hamlet was designated a protected monument.<ref name="beschermd">{{cite web|url=https://archisarchief.cultureelerfgoed.nl/Beschermde_Gezichten/BG319/TOELICHTING_aanwijzing_319.pdf |title=Smeerling |website=Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed |date=11 September 1972 |language=nl |access-date=1 March 2022}}</ref> The protected area measures {{convert|91.6|ha}}. A two kilometre path has been constructed through the hamlet, forests and meadows of Smeerling.<ref name="smeerling"/>
== Notable people == * Henk Bleker (born 1953), Dutch politician<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parlement.com/id/vihfckxm9ut9/h_henk_bleker |title=Dr. H. (Henk) Bleker |website=Dutch Parliament |access-date=26 February 2022 |language=nl}}</ref> * Izaak Reijnders (1879–1966), Dutch general<ref>{{cite web|url=http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/bwn1880-2000/lemmata/bwn3/reijnders |title=Reijnders, Izaak Herman (1879-1966) |website=Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands |year=2013 |language=nl|access-date=26 February 2022}}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery> File:Havenstraat4 Onstwedde.jpg|Former town hall File:Standerdmolen te Mussel - Onstwedde - 20173571 - RCE.jpg|Post mill (1936) File:20191229 Pagebos en Pagediep.jpg|Pagediep, a remnant of the former bogs </gallery>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://www.onstwedde.info/ www.onstwedde.info] (in Dutch)
{{Dutch municipality Stadskanaal}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Populated places in Groningen (province) Category:Former municipalities of Groningen (province) Category:Stadskanaal Category:875 establishments