Wenningstedt-Braderup

About

Wenningstedt-Braderup (German pronunciation: [ˈvɛnɪŋʃtɛt ˈbʁaːdəʁʊp]; officially Wenningstedt-Braderup (Sylt); North Frisian: Woningstair-Brēderep; Danish: Venningsted-Brarup) is a municipality and seaside resort on the island of Sylt in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located north of the town of Westerland and is part of the Amt Landschaft Sylt. The local economy is dominated by tourism.

The name Wenningstedt likely means '"homestead of the people of Winni". Braderup probably means "village on the slope".

Tradition holds that in the 5th and 6th century the Angles and Saxons led by Hengist and Horsa sailed from here to conquer England. Reportedly, their raiding party set sail from a harbour in Frisia called Wynningstede. However, this is unproven and even if true, due to coastal erosion, the place they could have sailed from is now located more than 2 kilometres west of the current beach, in the North Sea.

According to another tradition, a few hundred metres off today's shoreline there was the ancient settlement of Wendingstedt with an old Frisian port at the west coast. This supposedly was home to 200 fishing boats and was destroyed by a storm in 1300 AD. It is disputed though among scientists if this village ever existed or if it is merely a legend.

The first definitive mention of Wenningstedt occurs in 1462.

Braderup by contrast is one of the youngest settlements on the geest of Sylt. It is first mentioned in a document in 1540.

Until the early 19th century, Wenningstedt remained almost unchanged for centuries, consisting of merely eight farmsteads. The inhabitants lived on agriculture and fishing. Not a few men would also go whaling in the Arctic Sea or sailed on Hamburg ships to catch herring.

Since 1859, Wenningstedt has been a seaside resort, since 1960 it has been a recognised seaside spa ( Nordseebad ). In 1830, Braderup still had more inhabitants than Wenningstedt. Only by the beginning of the 20th century did the latter start to grow faster, boosted by tourism, and the number of inhabitants initially surpassed Braderup only slightly.

Together with Kampen and Braderup, Wenningstedt was part of the so-called Northern Villages ( Norddörfer ) - an early municipal association on the island. The term was coined when List, the northernmost village on the island, was part of the Danish realm. Thus Wenningstedt, Braderup and Kampen were the German "Northernmost Villages". This administrative cooperation ended in 1927 when Kampen and Wenninhgstedt became two separate communities, with Braderup becoming part of Wenningstedt.

In 1903, the Sylter Inselbahn [ de ] (island railway) connected Wenningstedt to Westerland in the south and from 1908 to List in the north. The railway was abolished in 1970.

In 1914, a Protestant chapel was built at the village pond.

During World War II a heavy coastal artillery battery was deployed in the dunes northwest of Wenningstedt. There was however no combat action; the facilities were blown up in the late 1940s by the Royal Air Force stationed at Westerland and were later completely dismantled and covered with sand by German combat engineers.

Until the mid 19th century, Wenningstedt was dominated by farmsteads in the Uthland Frisian style. The village centre was located by the pond, Kiar. With the rise of tourism, numerous small guest houses but also villas were built for summer tourists. Until then, there had been no regular road network in the village, but due to tourist development new streets and neighbourhoods were planned on the drawing board. As the guest houses more and more avoided the old village core, the new centre gradually migrated to the west, towards the beach. The new style was now leaning towards fashionable seaside resort architecture: two-storey buildings with high-ceilinged rooms and white, wooden porches.

The construction boom of the 1950s and 1960s brought about another major change. Simple brick houses were built, very often meant to be small guest houses. In addition the first true summer homes were constructed in the post-war era. In the 1980s and 1990s almost all land that could be covered with buildings inside the village was used, so new constructions regularly meant demolishing old structures. Since the 1980s, almost exclusively holiday apartment houses have been built, some leaning towards a retro-Frisian style - most of them being two-and-a-half storeys buildings with four to six flats. This has not only displaced the traditional family-run guest houses, but it alsodecreased the housing space available for long-term residents of Wenningstedt. Tower blocks like in Westerland have not been built, only some flat blocks were constructed along the main road in the early 1980s.

In cooperation with the Amt Landschaft Sylt a revision of street names and house numbering was undertaken, which became effective on 1 January 2006. This revision had become urgent since the extensive construction of the past 50 years had made it difficult for emergency services, postmen and also guests to find their way around.

Until the mid 19th century, Wenningstedt was dominated by farmsteads in the Uthland Frisian style. The village centre was located by the pond, Kiar. With the rise of tourism, numerous small guest houses but also villas were built for summer tourists. Until then, there had been no regular road network in the village, but due to tourist development new streets and neighbourhoods were planned on the drawing board. As the guest houses more and more avoided the old village core, the new centre gradually migrated to the west, towards the beach. The new style was now leaning towards fashionable seaside resort architecture: two-storey buildings with high-ceilinged rooms and white, wooden porches.

The construction boom of the 1950s and 1960s brought about another major change. Simple brick houses were built, very often meant to be small guest houses. In addition the first true summer homes were constructed in the post-war era. In the 1980s and 1990s almost all land that could be covered with buildings inside the village was used, so new constructions regularly meant demolishing old structures. Since the 1980s, almost exclusively holiday apartment houses have been built, some leaning towards a retro-Frisian style - most of them being two-and-a-half storeys buildings with four to six flats. This has not only displaced the traditional family-run guest houses, but it alsodecreased the housing space available for long-term residents of Wenningstedt. Tower blocks like in Westerland have not been built, only some flat blocks were constructed along the main road in the early 1980s.

In cooperation with the Amt Landschaft Sylt a revision of street names and house numbering was undertaken, which became effective on 1 January 2006. This revision had become urgent since the extensive construction of the past 50 years had made it difficult for emergency services, postmen and also guests to find their way around.

Wenningstedt-Braderup consists of Wenningstedt on the west coast of Sylt and Braderup, located on the Wadden Sea eastern coast of the island. Due to its significantly higher number of residents, Wenningstedt constitutes the municipality's centre with a communal office, spa bureau and retail businesses. Braderup does not have an original village core but until the mid-19th century was merely a hamlet of a few scattered farmsteads. Even today there are no major tourist facilities or hotels there.

Wenningstedt-Braderup consists of Wenningstedt on the west coast of Sylt and Braderup, located on the Wadden Sea eastern coast of the island. Due to its significantly higher number of residents, Wenningstedt constitutes the municipality's centre with a communal office, spa bureau and retail businesses. Braderup does not have an original village core but until the mid-19th century was merely a hamlet of a few scattered farmsteads. Even today there are no major tourist facilities or hotels there.