Wijnendale is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 located in the Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 province of West Flanders.

It belongs to the municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 of Torhout

Torhout

Torhout is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality only comprises the city of Torhout proper. On January 1, 2008 Torhout had a total population of 19,755...

. Wijnendale is situated at 4 km from the city center of Torhout, halfway in between this city center and Ichtegem

Ichtegem

Ichtegem is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders 15 km southwest of Bruges. The municipality comprises the towns of Bekegem, Eernegem and Ichtegem proper. On January 1, 2006 Ichtegem had a total population of 13,423. The total area is 45.33 km² which gives a population...

.

The village used to belong to the municipality of Ichtegem, but was moved to the municipality of Torhout in the 1970s.

Wijnendale is situated on a plateau 40 meter above sea level, some 20 meter higher than the surrounding countryside.

Historical importance

• Wijnendale Castle, which played an important role throughout Belgian history. Despite its name, situated on the territory of neighbouring Ichtegem.
• The Battle of Wijnendale
  Battle of Wijnendale
  The Battle of Wijnendale was a battle in the War of the Spanish Succession fought on 28 September 1708 near Wijnendale, Flanders, between an allied force protecting a convoy for the Siege of Lille and forces of Bourbon France and Spain...
  
  , fought on September 28, 1708 as part of the War of Spanish Succession.