Wet feet

Those who go out in 'De Vallei van de Mangelbeek' can expect the necessary wetness. This wetness is partly due to its location in a mine subsidence area. It is not for nothing that it is called the 'drowned land' here in the Schansbeemden. But the mining past is not the only cause. Valleys, such as those of the Mangelbeek and its tributaries, were always swampy until they were drained for the benefit of agriculture with the help of drainage ditches. However, the work on these small plots was so labour-intensive that interest in these marginal lands quickly disappeared when the economic situation – including with the rise of mining – changed drastically. And when the maintenance of the drainage ditches was omitted, the canals lost their function .... the area got wet again.

Limburgs Landschap vzw