Walk of the Houssière Woods

Introduction:

This itinerary aims to provide insights into the evolution of the landscape in the region of Braine-le-Comte and its land use from the 18th century to the present. First, let’s begin with a brief historical overview of the Braine-le-Comte region and some explanations about certain monuments in the city. The itinerary does not go through Braine-le-Comte itself but instead passes through other points of interest such as the Sandpits of the Bois de la Houssière and the glassworks of Fauquez, where we can see how the landscape and land use have evolved at these locations.

Historical context of Braine-le-Comte:

The small village of Braine la Vilhote was built under the orders of General Brennus. In 1150, the control of the village was granted to Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut during an exchange with the chapter of Saint Waudru of Mons in order to defend against the Brabançons. He built a keep and a tower there to assert a lord which gave birth to the current name "Braine-Le-Comte". This principal fief of the county of Hainaut is made up of eleven municipalities.

The city was besieged several times. The first significant siege took place in 1424, which was the bloodiest between the English and Brabançon troops. The Brabançons ravaged and plundered everything with the support of the Duke of Burgundy.

In 1652, Duke d'Aremberg received the city of Braine Le Comte from the King of Spain in exchange for the land of Zevenbergen. At that time, Braine-le-Comte was just a village that mainly lived off agriculture and cleared many forests.

The buildings that can be found at that time in the city are:

The ramparts:

In 1185, the ramparts were built by the son of Baldwin V. Remains of ramparts can be observed in the private property of a notary on Saint-Géry Street.

The church of Saint Géry (see fig.20):

One of the most beautiful buildings in the city, which was enlarged in 1577 on Romanogothic foundations, where some visible traces remain, notably in the upper part of the nave. Currently consisting of a main axis and three naves of equal height, we can see several altars and confessionals as well as different statues. The stones used come from the quarries of Soignies and Ecaussinnes.

The town hall (see fig.21):

The town hall is located on the main square and was entirely built of blue stone from Ecaussinnes around the 16th century. In 1652, it was acquired by the lord of Braine-le-Comte, the Duke of Aremberg, and resold to the municipality in the 19th century.

The evolution of land use:

On the Ferraris maps, we observe that the region of Braine-le-Comte was very sparsely populated at the time and was predominantly covered with agricultural land and forests. The city of Braine-le-Comte is very compact and radiocentric within its ramparts.

A significant expansion of the city took place with the industrial revolution accompanied by the network of railways, including the establishment of the Braine-le-Comte station (see fig.22 & 23).

The station:

Highly anticipated by the industry of the time, the station, in a neoclassical style, was built in 1841 on the Brussels-Mons line. It is one of the oldest buildings in Belgian railway architecture. The structure of the city will completely change to facilitate access to the station.

Industries such as metallurgy, cotton production, and further afield, the glassworks (in Fauquez), sandpits (La Houssière), etc., will create a demographic doubling of the region in just over a century. This is significantly characterized by an expansion of housing in Braine-le-Comte and a higher density in the city. Roads expand and multiply, and we begin to see axial development of the periphery (see fig.24).

Today we observe (in fig. 25) that the city has significantly expanded again in the peripheries, notably the urbanized grey areas that were mostly meadows before.

Other towns and villages in the region experienced significant expansion during the industrial revolution, particularly Fauquez and its glassworks. However, since the abandonment of the glassworks, the village of Fauquez has been in decline.

Ronquières has not experienced significant demographic growth, nor major expansions of its urban area. The village has however seen the creation of a station that was crossed by line 106 (see fig. 26). However, its landscape has greatly changed over time, particularly its hydrography, which was disrupted by an initial canal along the Samme, and especially by the new Charleroi-Brussels canal which reshaped the landscape. The Quesnoy hammot and its farm belonging to Ronquières were razed for the construction of the inclined plane. The Samme, which previously flowed into the Sennette, now flows into the new canal (see fig. 27).

Ecaussinnes was once a compact village concentrated near its strong castles. The village's expansion into a town directly depends on its quarries. Indeed, urban areas developed around the quarries in an isolated manner in the form of small hamlets like Restaumont and Thiarmont. The station was built between the largest quarries of the region, those of Mayeurmont and Thiarmont, to facilitate the transport of stones. With no more room to develop in the center due to abandoned quarries, housing has grown significantly in the periphery. Ecaussinnes will develop its service and trade economy after the closure of the quarries, and its population continues to increase. Today, like in Braine-le-Comte, most residents work in other major cities like Brussels, Mons, Charleroi.

Land use map in 2000:

We can observe on the current land use map that there is a large proportion of agricultural land with numerous farms scattered about. We find ourselves in a rural landscape corresponding to Mid-Belgium. The towns of Ecaussinnes and Braine-le-Comte concentrate the vast majority of urbanization and economic activity zones (industrial buildings, see fig. 30). Most of the wooded area is found in the Bois de la Houssière with some darker yellow sandpits within it. Now they are all abandoned and covered with small shrubs. We can see that the Brussels-Charleroi canal has a relatively straight course thanks to the inclined plane, as well as the large locks located along it. The old canal, on the other hand, has a more winding route due to its very small locks. It has a more "natural" character as it is bordered by many wooded areas or meadows as well as a nature reserve for biodiversity.