Godsheide is

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium ...

-speaking village and Catholic parish within the north-eastern corner of the Belgian city of

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as ...

, in the province of Limburg. Between the village and the main town of Hasselt there are several large modern developments - the Hasselt golf club, the Grenslandhallen entertainment centre, the Limburg provincial government buildings, and the Kinepolis cinema complex. Apart from the rest of Hasselt, it is bounded by Diepenbeek on the east, and Bokrijk, a part of

Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in Flanders, located on the Albert Canal, ...

, to the north. The parish is divided in northern and southern sections by the waterways and roads which both run east–west through it. The Albert Canal separates the modern main village from a northern section, "Vosseberg", which has access to the main village via two bridges, while the southern extreme of the parish, "Wolske", lies to the south of the Demer and the nearby Universiteitslaan main road. At the southern extremity, Godsheide touches the old ''steenweg'' (old main road) between Hasselt and

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

, which also runs in an east–west manner. Godsheide VV is the local soccer club, and there is a local catholic primary school and a

scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpack ...

group.

Etymology

Although the modern spelling and standard pronunciation sounds like it means "God's heath" this is not the origin of the name of Godsheide. The original meaning is thought to be shown more clearly by the spelling ''Goetschey'', found on a map from 1549, and the dialect pronunciation of the name, which is ''Gooètskè'': instead of God's ''heide'' (heath) the second component was related to modern Dutch ''scheiding'' (a separation or dividing). The division being referred to was apparently that between the medieval territory of the

County of Loon The County of Loon ( , , ) was a county in the Holy Roman Empire, which corresponded approximately with the Belgian province of Limburg. It was named after the original seat of its count, Loon, which is today called Borgloon. During the middle a ...

, which included Hasselt, and Diepenbeek, which was not part of Loon, but rather formed a detached part of various other entities over the centuries, especially the

Prince-bishopric of Liège The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial Estate, so the bishop of Liège, as its prince ...

and the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg ...

History

The oldest roads were made in the 14th century, and were the Bos, Kiezel, and Wolskes streets in the south of the parish, and the Brugbemdenstraat which is now in the golf course. The two ponds on Borggravevijverstraat, in the north of the parish near Bokrijk, were already there in the 15th century. The old main "steenweg" road between Hasselt and Genk, which passes through the northern "Vosseberg" part of the parish (separated from the church by the modern canal) exists since the 18th century. Godsheide became a catholic parish in 1845 and in 1853 work began on the church which is dedicated to '' Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Bezoeking'' (Our beloved lady of visitation). The modern church has an old gate which was once used elsewhere in Hasselt as an entrance port to the city. In 1869, the church received an organ which was protected in 1975 and fully restored between 1995 and 1998.

The Albert Canal

The Albert Canal (''Albertkanaal'') was made between 1930 and 1939, and runs through Godsheide. There is a

canal lock A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water lev ...

in Godsheide. On 26 June 1939 part of the dike gave way on the new canal, which had recently been checked, and 1,3 million m³ water flowed out, killing the man who had been checking it. The first bridge over the canal in Godsheide was blown up by the Belgian army during the invasion of Germany at the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Drowning disaster

During the war there was a simple ferry float constructed over the canal that was pulled across by steel cable. On 14 February 1941 a teacher had 57 children and 4 adults board on the south side, with the intention of crossing to get the tram in Genk. The float started to sink and as a result 35 children and 2 adults drowned. The town worker who operated the ferry was blamed and imprisoned. The teacher left the region.

Godsheide and its bridges

The Cable-stayed bridge

Godsheide has very large a

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern ...

over the canal, which was intended to be part of a new link connecting Hasselt and Genk. The project was vetoed by Genk. Only one side of the bridge is maintained for the small amount of traffic it serves, and there is a very wide bicycle path.

The bridge for the A24

In Limburg there has been debate since the 1970s about building a main road running north–south from

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,Huy in French-speaking

Liège Province Liège (; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the D ...

to the south, and to be known as the A24. An agreement was reached in 1972, but never went ahead. The original plans would have meant the bridge should have been about to the west of the cable-stayed bridge, nearer to the centre of Hasselt.

Annual procession

In Godsheide the

kermis Kermesse, or kermis, or kirmess, is a Dutch language term derived from 'kerk' ( church) and 'mis' (mass) that became borrowed in English, French, Spanish and many other languages, originally denoting the mass said on the anniversary of the found ...

in held on the Sunday after 18 July. On this day the scouts carry the image of

Saint Odilia Odile of Alsace, also known as Odilia and Ottilia, born c. 662 - c. 720 at Mont Sainte-Odile), is a saint venerated in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. She is a patroness saint of good eyesight and of the region of Alsace. ...

in procession through the town.

References

{{Reflist

External links

A link
with information and photos about the parish church.
The city of Hasselt
Hasselt Populated places in Limburg (Belgium)