The Tour de Saint-Croix

N.B. This walk is described here in its entirety. It can be split into two shorter circular loops (see practical information).

Start at Marbais Church.

(S/E) Take the narrow road directly opposite you (^{the first} street, to the left of the little bistro Le Sanglier). After the bend to the right, go down the gentle slope, then turn right, and right again (Rue Burette).

(1) At the end, turn left into Rue du Berceau. Then take the^first right, Rue du Camp. This tarmac road turns into a stony track further on, leading you to a ruined chapel: the Chapelle du Camp.

(2) Then take the dirt track on the left, which winds its way between the fields. Further on, cross a tarmac road and carry straight on with the Sart-Dames-Avelines water tower in front of you.

(3) At the next junction, turn right onto a dirt track. Walk alongside the Rigenée golf course, which is on your right. At the next junction (a four-way crossroads), just after a pond on your right, carry on straight ahead. You’ll follow the sign for ‘4 chênes’ for a while. The path veers off at an angle and moves away from the edge of the golf course. As you start to go downhill, you’ll come to a junction.

(4) Keep to the right to enter a sunken path which then gradually rises back to the surface. You’ll arrive at a wooden gate leading into a meadow.

(5) Turn left here. Walk past a barn and then past ‘Le Châtelet’. Go round it on the left and head down the steep slope after a bend. At the bottom, take the path running alongside the stream ‘La Thyle’ on the right. You’ll come to a Fork in the road.

(6) Take the path to the bridge (ignore the ‘4 chênes’ signpost, which heads off to the left). Pass through a turnstile and head down into a meadow. Cross it straight across (note the Ferme de Franquenouille on the right). Pass through a second turnstile and cross a small bridge. You’ll rejoin the tarmac road.

(7) Turn left (on the right, the rubble-stone building is the old Hollers mill). Climb the hill to reach a main road (Rue de Sart). Turn right and, shortly afterwards, you’ll see the Romanesque church of Villers-la-Ville.

(8) Facing the church steps, to the right of the vicarage, take a narrow street/path that leads out onto a square.
Leave the square on your right, walk almost as far as the bridge and take the path on the right that follows the stream to reach the mill.

(7) Go straight on. Pass the bridge and the Chemin de Franquenouille on your right. Continue straight on along this narrow road, which loses its tarmac surface and climbs, lined with shrubs amongst the meadows.

(9) At the T-junction, turn left and walk past a shed and a few outbuildings. Then walk past a small triangular square. Turn left after the glass recycling bins.

(10) Cross the N275 (be careful, this junction is dangerous; vehicles travel fast here). Carry on straight ahead into Rue de Tilly and turn right onto Rue des Savoyards, which leads downhill to the next junction.

(11) Turn left before a rubble-stone house. Then take the^first right, Rue des Rotons. Continue down the hill and carry on into Rue du Général Mellier. The street turns right at the corner of a factory.

(12) At the Fork in the road just after the bend, head slightly to the right into Rue t’Serclaes. You’ll arrive at a small square, behind which lies Tilly Church with the t’Serclaes monument at its foot. Opposite the church, admire a silver lime tree (Tilia tomentosa) 19 metres tall with a circumference of 2.3 metres. Opposite the vicarage stand two purple beech trees (Fagus sylvatica purpurea), one of which is 23 metres tall with a circumference of 2.65 metres.

(13) Leave the church on your left and carry on. You’ll come out facing the railway line; turn left. At the end of the road, turn right and cross the railway line at the level crossing.

(14) At the junction immediately ahead, turn right and then straight away left into Rue de l’Épine. Walk up the street, passing a fallow deer enclosure (on your left) and a bison enclosure (on your right). You will reach a cobbled road.

(15) Follow this road to the right. Ignore a path on the right and head due south until you reach a junction (houses, chapel).

(16) Then turn right and immediately ignore a path on your right. Follow Rue du Profond Baty between two meadows. Take the^first left, Rue Baudoux, then the^first right, Rue des Chats. At the end, veer right and walk past Marbisoux Church on your left.

(17) At the T-junction, turn left into Rue de l’Église. Then turn right onto Rue de la Gare. Cross the railway tracks at the level crossing and head straight up the cul-de-sac. You’ll emerge into the countryside; continue straight on towards the south-west. Ignore two paths coming from the right in succession and end up on a wide, well-trodden track leading to the N93.

(18) Cross the road carefully (heavy traffic travelling at high speed). Take the dirt track opposite, between a house and a car repair garage (with no sign). Head due south. At^{the first} junction, go straight on and enter the province of Hainaut. Then ignore, in turn, a path on the right, one on the left and one on the right.

(19) Cross a road and continue straight ahead. When the road bends to the right and just before a small bridge, take a path on the right. Go straight on, skirting fenced-off gardens. You’ll come out onto the Place de Wagnelée.

(20) Turn left into Rue de l’Église. At the corner by a farmhouse on the right-hand side, take a path on the right. Pass a chapel on your left and continue westwards along the edge of the woods. At the T-junction, turn left. At the next junction, go straight on. At the T-junction (with a view of Mellet Church), turn right.

(21) At the crossroads (with a wayside shrine), keep to the right. Cross a road and carry on straight ahead (north-west). At the junction at the bottom of a slope, turn right onto a tarmac road lined with trees on the right. You’ll reach a crossroads (with a wayside shrine on the right and a farm opposite).

(22) Cross the Route de Chassart and head due north along a dirt track that runs alongside the farm. Continue north-north-east, ignoring all the side tracks. At a four-way junction, go straight on (north).

(23) At the Arbre de la Bruyère, turn right to walk alongside the golf course on your left. Go straight on at the next junction. The track becomes grassy, running between the golf course (on the left) and farmland (on the right). At the end of the golf course, continue between the fields. After a bend to the right, you’ll reach a T-junction; turn left here to join the N93.

(24) Cross the road carefully and follow the tarmac road opposite, which takes you into the village of Marbais.

(25) Take the^first right onto Rue Lorrain. Climb a short hill and, when the street turns right, veer left onto a lane, Rue de la Pêcherée. Then leave this lane, with its uneven surface, to take the footpath on your right (Sentier 86 du Berceau; muddy in wet weather).
Ignore the path leading to a pond on your right. At the next junction, turn left onto a cobbled lane lined with walls. Continue up this way until you reach Marbais Church (S/E).

This long circular loop can be broken down into two shorter circular loops

Northern Circular:
Distance: 14.2 km; elevation gain: 105 m; average duration: 4 hrs 20 mins; difficulty: Moderate.

To start with, follow the same route as the circular loop up to Marbisoux Church (16). Then walk past the church, go round the ‘Le Marbisoux’ hall and turn right (Rue de la Gare). Cross the level crossing and take the road on your right. This is still Rue de la Gare. It is a very long road and ends at the bottom of a small slope. Once you’ve started your descent, on your right, two brick pilasters mark one of the entrances to the Château de Cognée, and you can catch a glimpse of the château itself. At the bottom of the street, at the junction, turn left onto Rue Minique. You must follow it all the way to the end. It leads out opposite two garages with metal roller shutters. Cross the road and turn left (there’s a bakery on the corner) – onto Rue Pardelà l’Eau.

Carry on, and at the end, turn right, walking alongside the fence of the last property through the grass so that you end up almost directly opposite the footpath (Sentier de l’Hôpital No. 87), which you should take after crossing the concrete road. To your left, you’ll see the Jouerie farm and the Tir au D’jirau shooting range.
This path takes you to the Pêcherée (stream), leads you past a pond (on your right) and the Monument to the Desecrated Hosts on your left, then brings you to a wall. Turn right and then straight left onto a cobbled path wedged between two walls. Follow it uphill and you’ll reach your starting point: Saint-Martin Church in Marbais.

Southern Circular:
Distance: 14.9 km; elevation gain: 105 m; average duration: 4 hours 20 minutes; difficulty: Moderate.

You rejoin the route at WP (17). To get there, starting from the church in Marbais, take the cobbled path behind the statue of the Sacred Heart. Follow it downhill, then turn right, followed by a left. You’ll pass the Monument to the Desecrated Hosts on your right. On your left is the Saint-Pierre pond, fed by the La Pêcherée stream, which you’ll follow before heading up a gentle slope. On your right, you’ll have a view of the Ferme de la Jouerie and the Tir au D’Jirau shooting range

At the end of this path, cross the road and the grassy triangle opposite to take Rue Par delà l’Eau to the left. Follow this street to the end (there’s a bakery on the left-hand corner) and then first turn right then left to reach Rue Minique. Follow this street to the end (past the Parc Pré St Pierre housing estate and a few more houses on either side). Turn right onto Rue de la Gare.

Take the pavement on the left which runs alongside the Château de Cognée park, which you will soon see. After one of the castle’s entrances (two tall pilasters offering a view of the pond and the castle itself) and before the first house, a footpath begins; take this path. (Signpost for Tilly-Marbisoux). You’ll find yourself between the castle grounds on your left and the rear of houses on your right. This path meets a cobbled road; cross it and continue along the path. (Signpost for Tilly-Marbisoux).

At the junction, turn right. The path then bends to the left, passes under the railway bridge (a section that is often flooded) and climbs up between the houses. You’ll come out onto a busier road; turn right. This road will take you to the church in Marbisoux.

The Tour Sainte-Croix
The Tour Sainte-Croix is a procession that sets off from Marbais in the early hours of the morning, following a mass. It takes place on the first Sunday in May. It brings together archers from Saint-Sébastien, the Sapeurs and the faithful, who accompany the relic of the Holy Cross on a route linking the churches of the aforementioned villages. (Further information, photos and videos are available on the Villers parish website.)

Rigenée Golf Club
Le Soir – 24 April 2003 – Eric Meuwissen – “Manu (the late Emmanuel Descampe) founded his golf course in April 1982. Rigenée was, in fact, regarded as one of the finest successes to emerge from the golfing craze that swept the country during the 1980s. He had invested everything he held most dear: his family and his estate, including his farmland. He laid out the course entirely by himself at the start, using equipment from his farm. Today, Rigenée boasts an 18-hole course and a 9-hole course, as well as a golf school set up by his daughter Florence, a true star in her own right. The club has 600 members and Christophe Descampe has just taken over from his late father.”

The Water Tower at Sart-Dames-Avelines
“An Art Deco water tower built in 1938 which, following its renovation in 2007, is in the process of being listed. There are 38 of this type in Belgium, out of the 871 listed, but the one in Sart-Dames-Avelines is one of the most distinctive. This is particularly due to the use of glazed corners, which was a modern innovation at the time. The structure itself consists of eight pillars, providing a radius of seven metres. There are 222 narrow steps leading up to the tank.” – Le Soir – 14 March 2018

Le Châtelet
relaisduvisiteur.be
“Perched on a rocky outcrop, the Châtelet de Marbais seems to watch over the Thyle valley and its surroundings. Built at the confluence of two watercourses, the Thyle and the Ri des Goutailles, the location is ideal. Rocks and marshes provide natural and effective protection against the enemy, whilst the rivers offer an inexhaustible source of water.

It was in this small fortification that the lords of Marbais took up residence for nearly 500 years. The original keep was gradually incorporated into a larger structure and protected by towers, ramparts and a drawbridge. In 1600, when the line of the lords of Marbais died out, the castle passed into the hands of neighbouring lords, the T’Serclaes of Tilly. Gradually, the castle was converted into a farm and lost its political role. The keep then served as a cowshed and a granary, and the chapel as a stable.

Franquenouille or Fortbeausart Farm
an old 18th-century farm built of rubble stone.

Former Hollers Mill
villers-la-ville.net: “The oldest parts of the former Hollers Mill (built of schist) date from the 13th and 14th centuries, whilst the more recent sections (built of brick) date from the 18th and 19th centuries.
It belonged to the lords of Hollers, vassals of the Dukes of Brabant.
First mentioned in 1530, it was acquired by Villers Abbey in 1617. Powered by the River Thyle, the mill ceased grinding in 1947.
The wheel’s emplacement is still there. It forms a fine, elongated structure built of schist sandstone.’

The church at Villers-la-Ville
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glis...

“The Church of Our Lady of the Visitation in Villers-la-Ville is a Romanesque and Neo-Romanesque church.

The interior of the church houses a wealth of heritage, such as the tympanum above the nave door on the reverse side of the façade, the funerary monument to François de Marbais, wooden altarpieces from the 15th and 16th centuries, and a Gothic-style stone niche surmounted by an ogee arch and fleurons…

The tympanum above the nave door is a 12th-century poly-lobed tympanum depicting the Paschal Lamb flanked by fleurs-de-lis: its right foreleg is bent and holds a pennant, as seen on a keystone of the westbau of the collegiate church of Tirlemont and on one of the western buttresses of St James’s Church in Leuven.

Funeral monument to François, Lord of Marbais
On one of the church walls stands the blue stone funerary monument to François and Hélène de Marbais and their daughter Jeanne, dated 1610.
This Renaissance-inspired monument, four metres high and two metres wide, was installed in the new church in 1946 at the request of the local council.
The deceased is depicted kneeling in the central section, flanked by his four coats of arms: Marbais, La Bricque, Tresnie and Saint-Val. Above him, a cartouche adorned with a skull bears the Latin inscription ‘Hodie Mihi, Cras Tibi’ (Today me, tomorrow you).
Owing to her family’s greed, on her death in 1610 Jeanne bequeathed the seigneury of Marbais to Jean t’Serclaes, Count of Tilly, chamberlain to the Duke of Lorraine: this monument therefore marks not only Jeanne’s death but also the end of the House of Marbais.

The church houses two wooden altarpieces:
the Nativity altarpiece, dating from the third quarter of the 15th century;
the Altarpiece of Our Lady, from the mid-16th century.”

The Monument to Jean ‘tSerclaes de Tilly.
cirkwi.com
‘At the foot of the church stands a monument dedicated to Jean t’Serclaes. Best known as “General Tilly”, Jean t’Serclaes was commander-in-chief of the armies of the Catholic League during the early part of the Thirty Years’ War. He inflicted defeats on the armies of Mansfeld and Brunswick. Defeated by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, he died of his wounds in 1632 and became a heroic figure in German Catholic iconography. The work, created by Félix Roulin (1996), is intended as a symbol of reconciliation between peoples at a time of European integration. The hero is depicted travelling across Europe on his boots: the boot on his right foot bears a model of the town of Rothenburg, whilst the one on his left foot bears a model of Tilly.”

The Cassart Plain (former Chassart factories)
A brief history of our region (Information copied from the ‘chassart.com’ website)
• 1800 In the early 1800s, Auguste Dumont de Chassart farmed his land; he was already using fertilisers such as animal manure to enrich his soil.
• 1822 In 1822, he added a grain spirit distillery to his farm and built a barn alongside the Roman road, which would later become the Wagnelée farm.
• 1833 In 1833, he built a second distillery on the site of what would later become the Chassart estates. The site also featured a steam-powered flour mill and a small windmill used to pump water from the water table to water the livestock.
• 1836 It was in 1836 that the business really expanded, with the addition of a beet sugar factory, a steam engine, a malt house and a factory producing animal black for bleaching the sugar from the sugar factory – a rather revolutionary development for the time.
A railway linking the various family farms was even built at the time to facilitate internal transport within the family business.
• 1857 In 1857, Léopold Dumont took over and established a large grain spirit distillery by merging several small local agricultural distilleries.
A thick wall was erected around the site as protection in the event of a strike. This wall is flanked by four gates, two of which are majestic – the so-called North and South gates – built of brick and Ligny limestone. This monumental entrance has strong symbolic significance. It became the factory’s emblem on the jenever bottles; indeed, it is through this North Gate that one still enters La Plaine Chassart today.
• 1900 In the early 1900s, a yeast factory and distillery, as well as a vinegar works, were established at La Plaine Chassart. It was during this same period that a neo-Gothic chapel, dedicated to Saint Hubert, Saint Eloi and Saint Barbara, was built within the very grounds of the Chassart premises, to enable workers and service staff to attend Mass on Sundays.
• 1927 From 1927 onwards, a water tower and a wastewater treatment plant were built. Léopold Dumont demonstrated great creativity. We have already seen his interest in fertilisers and mechanisation.
Seeds were also selected at Chassart, and laboratories where experiments were carried out in both the sugar and chemical fertiliser sectors were set up there and used by the Gembloux Agricultural Institute.
• 1930 In 1930, the ‘Genièvre de Chassart’ trademark was registered with the clerk of the Commercial Court.
• The 1940s During the war, a new yeast factory was established, which would become the largest in Belgium in the 1940s.
• 1957 In 1957, the sugar refinery and the yeast factory ceased operations. Only the juniper spirit was still in production.
• The 1960s In the 1960s, the genièvre business was taken over by Martini. Léopold Dumont set up a mushroom farm with Bertrand de Briey. This mushroom farm operated until 1976. They then decided to diversify their activities until 2003 by moving into bagged potting compost and garden soil improvers. This is what we now refer to as the DNA of La Plaine Chassart.
• 2001 In 2001, a new generation of Dumont de Chassarts – four cousins – took up the baton to significantly expand the business, with the aim of offering a comprehensive service for professional gardeners and gardening enthusiasts alike!

Redebel
Sillonbelge.be 27/10/2018
“Since its inception (1988), the company has been designing and conducting agronomic trials and residue trials for all plant protection products submitted by its clients, whether herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, growth regulators, fertilisers, adjuvants… and across all types of crops. The vast majority of these trials are carried out with a view to obtaining authorisation for new products for the European market, whilst others are conducted for demonstration or research and development purposes.

Tanguy Dumont de Chassart, who has led the company since its foundation, very quickly realised that he would have to deliver work of impeccable quality to win the trust of stakeholders in the plant protection sector. This is why Redebel swiftly set about obtaining GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) and GEP (Good Experimental Practice) certifications. These were achieved in 1993 and 1997 respectively, and today a ‘Quality Assurance’ department ensures that these practices are properly monitored on a daily basis.

The trials conducted since 1988 have been diverse and varied, whether in the field or in the greenhouse. This makes it possible to carry out a wide range of so-called ‘conventional’ agronomic trials: the efficacy and selectivity of plant protection products; studies of the impacts of these products on subsequent crops (persistence) or neighbouring crops (drift); assessment of the consequences for the quality of harvested produce; tests on accumulation and dissipation in soil, and tests on weed resistance to herbicides.

Similarly, the company conducts trials designed to analyse pesticide residue levels in crops, as part of the registration procedures for these products. In this same field, it possesses the necessary expertise to measure residues that may be transferred from the leaf surface of plants to another surface, such as the skin of a worker assigned to harvesting fruit and vegetables.

Finally, with a view to meeting its clients’ evolving requirements, the company has added another string to its bow and has also developed its expertise in naturally derived products (biostimulants and biopesticides)………. ”

Ferme de la Jouerie and the D’Jirau meadow
Cirkwi: “This farmstead dates from the second half of the 18th century. In the 15th century, it was the seat of a fiefdom in Marbais, which was ravaged in 1675 by passing armies. A stone laid in 1946 commemorates the fact that Philippe Pieret, bailiff of Marbais from 1684 to 1771, lived here.
In the early 20th century, La Jouerie was a centre for breeding draught horses. The horses were requisitioned by the Germans in 1914.”

The D’jirau Meadow – The Archers of Marbais – The Royal Bird Shooting
D’jirau = Jay in Walloon

Source: archers-de-marbais.be

“As in any seigneury worthy of the name, Marbais possessed, in the Middle Ages, a most remarkable corps of archers. The adoption of firearms in the 16th century stripped this company of its military significance; it soon transformed into a recreational archery society and, as such, organised grand festivities in which the entire bourgeoisie took part. Lancelot, Lord of Marbais from 1559 to 1592, granted it a set of regulations known as the ‘Act of Establishment of the Oath of Saint Sebastian’. This institution took the name ‘Royal Oath’

The archery event takes place every year on the last Sunday in April.
On that day, at 1.00 pm sharp, the archers gather with their bows and arrows at the club’s premises. Led by the flag and a band, the members proceed in a group to the King’s residence, provided he lives in Marbais.
After refreshments provided by the King, the archers proceed to the Djirau meadow to elect a new King.
There, after raising the pole on which the cockerel has been mounted, the King administers the oath to the new members.
He shoots the first three arrows of the competition. Next, it is the turn of the new members to shoot, followed by the other members of the club in the order determined by a draw.
The archer who is the first to knock down the rooster, fixed at a height of 28 metres and known as the ‘Djirau’, will be crowned the new King.
The winner is then congratulated by all his fellow archers and dressed in the maroon cloak and the distinctive necklace of his title. He carries the shot rooster, impaled on the winning arrow, as his sceptre.

Passing through the courtyard of the Jouerie farm, where the archers are offered refreshments, the King and his entourage parade through the village streets to the sound of the brass band, before attending vespers at the parish church.
At the end of the service, the Archers perform the ‘Danse Macrabée’ in honour of the new King; they then proceed to the hall where the King is once again warmly congratulated.
It is during this gathering that the two sets of twelve archers are chosen by drawing lots to accompany the King and escort the relic of the Holy Cross during the grand procession on the first Sunday in May.
After this gathering, the King is delighted to offer a toast to his subjects, and the day draws to a close as each person sees fit.
‘The archer who shoots down the bird for three consecutive years takes the title of Emperor.’

Monument to the Desecrated Hosts (according to Paysdevillers-tourisme)
“This memorial stone was erected in 1804, after sacrilegious hands had stolen the ciborium from the parish church and thrown away the consecrated hosts; they were found by a shepherd.
According to legend, the day after the theft, the shepherd, who was grazing his sheep in the meadow at the Jouerie farm, saw his animals heading towards the ditch bordering the path and kneeling in a circle before something he could not make out. The shepherd approached and discovered the scattered holy hosts. To make amends for the desecration, the people of Marbais had a memorial stone erected at that spot.”

Place known as: ‘Arbre de la Bruyère’
villers-la-ville.be
“This large-leaved lime tree (Tilia platyphyllos) is situated on the boundary between the municipalities of
Wagnelée, Villers-Perwin and Sart-Dames-Avelines. It is 22 metres tall and has a
circumference of 3.15 m.”