This village probably dates from the Carolingian period. In the 11th century it became a place of pilgrimage due to the presence of the graves of Walfridus and Radfridus, two martyrs who had been murdered by Vikings in the 10th century. Two churches were built, each of which was dedicated to one the martyrs. The chapel of Radfridus was demolished after the Reformation, while the church of Walfridus was mutilated. A catholic minority continued to exist and built its first real church in 1803. The reformed community was split later in that century over theological differences, which caused the rise of a new denomination, the Gereformeerden.

The reformed church was in catholic times known as St. Walfridus, when it was a chapter church. An originally Romanesque church, of which the tower remains, was in ca. 1484 rebuilt into a two-aisled Gothic hall-church. The current mutilated state of the building is the result of several changes by the protestants.

Bedum is one of relatively few places in Groningen with a Roman Catholic church. The O.L. Vrouwe Hemelvaart is a one-aisled cruciform church in neo-Gothic style. It was designed by A. Tepe and built in 1880-1881.

One of two churches of the protestant denomination of the Gereformeerden is this Noorderkerk, also known as Goede Herderkerk. Architects E. Reitsma and A. Wiersema designed the church, which was built in 1938, in a Traditionalistic style.