SASSENHOUT WALK 16.2 KM

Parking along the side of the road Sassenhout

START/ARRIVAL junction 60 is located at house number 75. distance: 16.2 km.

To follow junctions: 60-62-63-64-78-77-75-74-76-66-67-68-97-97-28-94-43-42-41-40-50-51-52-59-24-25-60

Short description:

Heggekapel

The Chapel of the Venerable Holy Sacrament or Heggekapel is the oldest building in the municipality of Lille. It was built in 1442 on the orders of Jan van Vriesele, lord of Poederlee, to never forget the great miracle that took place here.

In January 1412, a chalice with five consecrated hosts was stolen from the church of Wechelderzande. The thief of the chalice got lost in the vicinity of the ‘Hegge’ on his way back to the inn in Herentals where he was staying. According to the criminal, this was due to the consecrated hosts. He hid them in a rabbit's burrow and soon found his way back. However, the constable was waiting for him at the inn and found the chalice while searching his clothes. The thief confessed his crime and stated that he had hidden five consecrated hosts in an unconsecrated place. After eight days, the hosts were found unharmed. The thief was executed. His right hand was chopped off with an axe and burned, after which the unfortunate man was hanged.

Every year on the Sunday after the Feast of Corpus Christi, a procession to the Heggekapel takes place. Every 25 years the Ommegang of the Hegge goes out.

Den Haert

This nature reserve lies between the 'Aa' (a tributary of the Nete), the Slootbeek, and the road Poederlee-Lichtaart.

In the Kempen, ‘Haert' (or Aert) means common, uncultivated lands, heath, and forests used collectively for grazing livestock, cutting peat, and gathering heather as bedding for animals.

The nature reserve mainly consists of oak forests with an undergrowth of hazel. There are also some poplar stands and alder swamp forests. Hedges and rows of trees border the fields and meadows still used by farmers.
The forest provides a resting and living area for various bird species. The combination of old and young forests on dry and wet soil leads to a great variety of plant life and mushrooms.

De Aa is a tributary of the Kleine Nete in the Scheldt basin, in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The Aa is formed by the drainage of the area north of Turnhout: the Nattenloop and the Wouwerloop merge south of Ravels.

De Slootbeek

Between the Aa and the Slootbeek lies Den Haert, a landscape with oak forests, hedges, and rows of trees bordering the fields and meadows. The little owl, black woodpecker, and European stonechat find a home here. The great variety of plants and mushrooms arose thanks to the alternation of old and young forests on dry and wet soil. Besides its cultural value, Den Haert is also of great scenic and especially cultural-historical importance. In the western part of this area lies ‘Den Ouden Hofberg’. This is an artificial defensive mound at the bend of the river.

'Ouden Hofberg'

At the AA on the 'Ouden Hofberg' in the nature reserve 'Den Haert', we find an artificial hill of about 7 m high and 20 m in diameter surrounded by a moat and currently overgrown with oaks. It is a so-called 'motte': a defensive structure, erected by the local lords of Poederlee perhaps in the 11th-12th century. On the artificial hill (the upper courtyard) there was originally perhaps a wooden tower as a lookout and defense, surrounded by a wooden palisade. Below was the 'lower courtyard' where the habitation was located. This is still clearly observable on the site (on the east side).

Militarily, this was an ideal place to establish a defensive structure: in the middle of a marshy area and surrounded by a river 'the AA' and the 'Slootbeek'. This fortification surely contributed to the prestige of the then 'Lords of Poederlee'.

Chapel of Heiken

The chapel of Heiken owes its existence to the devotion of a farming family that settled in this very lonely corner of Vorselaar in the middle of the 19th century. In the large farming families around the turn of the century, it was an unwritten law that one of the sons – usually the oldest – succeeded the father as the new farmer on the farm upon the father’s death. But in the family of Petrus Franciscus Van Thielen, things threatened to go wrong! Therefore, the resident brother of the family, Carolus Van Thielen, promised Our Lady to build a chapel at Heiken if a son were to be born in his brother's family. On July 22, 1905, it happened: Petrus (Peer) Van Thielen was born. The promise was immediately put into action.

Enjoy your walk Emiel Peeters