Witgoor

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Update: 08-09-2022

Beautiful varied walk from www.wandelknooppunt.be The walk starts at the church of Witgoor at knp 24 and continues via 63, 62, 65, 64, 69, 48, 47, 88, 66, 49, 73, 25 and back to 24. Download the map with junctions!

Witgoor is a hamlet in the Belgian province of Antwerp. It is located about two kilometers east of the center of Dessel.

To the south runs the Bocholt-Herentals Canal, to the east the Dessel-Turnhout-Schoten Canal

History

Witgoor is one of the old cores of Dessel. In addition to this name, names such as op 't eynde and Hertveken also appeared in the 17th and 18th centuries. On the Ferraris map from the 1770s, the place is referred to as the hamlet of Witgoeir, which was already connected to the center of Dessel by ribbon buildings. Witgoor grew up around the 17th-century chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Assistance.

In the mid-19th century, the various canals were dug nearby. A smaller drainage canal was the so-called "Collateur van Arendonk", also called "De Gracht" in Dessel, west of Witgoor. This canal formed a border between the center of Dessel and Witgoor.

In the 20th century Witgoor experienced a strong population increase and the hamlet grew, especially in an easterly direction. Witgoor became a chapel in 1932 served by Postel Abbey. A church, a convent with girls' school and a municipal boys' school were built and in 1958 Witgoor became an independent parish. The old chapel in the west of the hamlet was even outside the parish and was demolished in 1968 due to construction activities.