Wohlen, Aargau

Wohlen, in High Alemannic Woole, is a municipality of about 16,900 inhabitants in the district of Bremgarten in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland. The earliest known settlements date from the late Hallstatt era, 600 to 500 BC, which left two clusters of burial mounds at Hohbühl and Häslerhau, excavated between 1925 and 1930; the location of the settlement itself is still unknown. During the Roman era two large estates were built at Oberdorf and the Brünishalde around 50 AD, and the harvested grain was probably for the Roman troops at the military camp of Vindonissa. When the Alemanni migrated into the area in the 5th century they built settlements on both banks of the Bünz. The name is first mentioned in 1178 to 1179 as Vuolon or Volen and goes back to the Old High German Walh, meaning Vlachs or romanus, a term for the romanized locals. Wohlen had no parish church of its own but was split between three parishes, until a small church was donated to the village shortly after 1100.