Every design for Woerden

Woerden grew up on the Oude Rijn, on a natural levee just higher than the wet land around it, and that small rise was enough for the Romans to build a castellum here as part of the empire's northern frontier. Where the fort stood, the Petruskerk and its churchyard now stand.

The town lies in the west of the province of Utrecht, on the eastern side of the Groene Hart, between Utrecht and Amsterdam. Its municipality also takes in Harmelen, Kamerik and Zegveld, villages of its own. The river once ran straight through the centre until it was diverted around it in 1960, and the old fortifications still frame the centre. During the siege of 1575-1576 the town held out for a year against Spanish troops.

The cheese market, held in the market place since 1885, keeps an old trade alive, and the Kaaspakhuis tells its story. Inside the walls stand the Kasteel van Woerden, the town hall, the windmill De Windhond and the tall spire of the Sint-Bonaventurakerk, which dominates the skyline from far away. For anyone who grew up here, the map holds those cheese mornings, the walk along the old ramparts, and that spire guiding you home over the polder.