HELMOND, a town of the Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant, to the left of the river Aa, with a station (since 1866) on the state railway between Venloo and Eindhoven. The castle of Helmond remains a beautiful specimen of the architecture of the 15th century, and among the other buildings of note in the town are the spacious church of St Lambert, the Reformed church, and the town-house. Cotton-weaving on a very extensive scale, dyeing, iron-founding, brewing, soap-boiling, and tobacco dressing are the chief industries of the commune. The population of the town proper in 1870 was only 5280, but the commune, which includes several suburbs, had about 6500.

Helmond is first mentioned as a town in 1354, but it may possibly be identical with a certain Harlemont or Harlomont which appears in the 12th century. In the middle of the 13th century it was the favourite residence of Mary of Brabant, queen of the Romans. Fortified shortly after the attack of the people of °tickler-land in 1543, it continued a place of military importance till the peace of Miinster. The occupation of the town by the duke of Parma in 1579, its recovery by the states of Holland in 1581, its capture by the count of Hohenlohe iu 1588, and the seizure of the castle by Count Frederick of Nassau are the chief events in its military annals. In 1814 the town received the right of parliamentary representation, but it afterwards lost the privilege.