The career of Dongelberg

The Dongelberg Quarry
1370 Dongelberg Quarry Road
The site of the former Dongelberg quarry is impressive; it combines two almost adjacent excavations located near Orbais. The quartzite or silica sandstone known as "Dongelberg" is a hard and difficult stone to work with, offering a wide range of colors: a range of grays tinged with rust and reflections of blue, green, pink, or violet. It appears only locally in architecture and, like the quartzite of Opprebais, was intensively exploited in the form of cobblestones from the second half of the 18th century.
It was in the 19th century, thanks to the paving of major road axes, that the Dongelberg quarries began to flourish; they further developed with the creation of the Wavre-Jodoigne railway line between 1887 and 1889, which passes through Dongelberg and allows for the transportation of production. Around 1900, the quarries were grouped into the "Société anonyme des Carrières de Quartzite de Dongelberg," becoming the second largest quarry in the Nivelles district and employing more than 150 workers! However, due to competition from asphalt, the company gradually declined throughout the 20th century. The site is currently dedicated to the pumping of drinking water.

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