Heiloo


Heiloo is a municipality and town in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland. The community is part of the cooperation region Kennemerland and is located in the historical region of West Friesland. Heiloo had a population of in.

Origins of the name

Heiloo was given its name because Saint Willibrord was said to have performed a miracle there around 690 and created a church on a small hill.

Notable attractions

It has a town hall dating from 1926 and a church from the 12th century known as the Witte Kerk. In the late Middle Ages, after a miracle, a Marian shrine came into being for Our Lady to Need. The chapel was destroyed during the Reformation, however the pilgrimage started to flourish again when in the seventeenth century a source with miraculous water started to sprout. The Marian sanctuary, situated outside the village in a so called procession park, is one of the major pilgrimage destinations in the Netherlands, attracting pilgrims mainly from the diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam.
In the 1950s and 1960s the population grew quickly as many residents of Amsterdam moved to the area. Many residents work and attend school in the neighbouring city of Alkmaar.

Sporting clubs

The municipal council of Heiloo consists of 19 seats, which are divided as follows:
Current Mayor: T.J. Romeyn

Railway connections

Heiloo is connected to the Dutch railway network by Heiloo railway station. From this station there are many destinations available such as: Alkmaar, Hoorn, Uitgeest, Zaandam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, 's-Hertogenbosch, Eindhoven, The Hague, Weert, Roermond, Maastricht and Heerlen.
For the Zaanse Schans, you should travel to Uitgeest and change onto a train to Koog-Zaandijk
There used to be a second stop on the railway line between Heiloo and Limmen. Until October 2013 it was used once a month to bring pilgrims to the nearby chapel. The name of both station and chapel is 'Onze lieve vrouwe ter nood' or 'Our Lady to Need'; the station was known as Runxputte until 1914. One of the platforms was demolished in 1997 for safety reasons.

Notable residents

Sport