The Grotendries. One of many in Lubbeek.

The area is called Grotendries, and in it, we see the word 'dries', a toponym that we often find in Lubbeek. The meaning of dries is not always very clear. It usually refers to a common open space of land where the community's livestock could graze. Not infrequently, houses and possibly a church were built around this square, giving it the character of a village center. This is not the case here. What is interesting is that this dries was located at a place where three roads converge in the form of a so-called 'goose foot.' On the Ferraris map from 250 years ago, there was a standing gallows in the middle of the dries, and archers would come here to practice.

Jan Rymenams