Crupet
Condroz

In the bed of the narrow valley of Crupet and its tributaries, buildings ranging from the 16th to the 19th century are gracefully nestled in a quiet environment.

Province of Namur,  Assesse township

Throughout high street and low street that connect through scenic trails, the village is composed of sandstone and limestone, clinging to the valley slopes. Everything is rapture and authenticity facades, gables and outbuildings, driveways, front gardens, outdoor living ... Belgium's best preserved medieval dungeon arises, still surrounded by a moat. A little higher up, the site of St. Martin Church and presbytery will attract your attention. The priest Gerard has prepared a surprise: an artificial cave depicting the life of Saint Anthony of Padua.

Designed as a gate between the land of the living and of the dead, the chambers are crudely painted with moral scenes chosen from the life of the saint. This place of worship is also known as the Devil's Cave, named after a cast iron statue guarding the entrance to the graveyard...

A valley village of mills, the village is surmounted by the fertile lands of the Condroz plateau. Hamlets and villages surrounding Crupet are a charming places to ride or walk by. 

 

© Photographies: 9 Gérard Michel / 3 Stéphane Sabbe / 1-2,4-6,8,10-11,13-17 Mark Rossignol / 7,12 PBVW

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Condroz

Landscape

Limited by the Sambre and Lower Meuse valley on its north side, the landscape of the Condroz can be described as a long wave-shaped plateau, spit in half by the High Meuse valley. Erosion has sculpted Condroz' terrain in regular undulation, where sandstone crests alternate with limestone depressions, giving Condroz a unique landscape. The vegetal overlay emphasises the impact of the topography : the slopes are plowed, the muddy creek beds are flanked with meadows, while the windy and rocky crests are covered by woods.

This typical countryside landscape defines a mixt Openfield model. This organisation of space shows an open, agrair landscape, dedicated to both meadows and non-closed farmings. Based on a circular structure, it shows a living center, surrounded by a meadow ring, followed by another ring dedicated to farmings and finally, a last ring covered by forests. But Condroz' geology brings us yet another enlightenment. The bottom of steep, limestone slopes welcome meadows, while smoother, well watered and silt-full (thus full of nutritive elements) slopes are meant for farmings, and finally, sandstone hilltops, making infertile grounds, get covered in woods.

Condroz' villages, often set on the bottom of the slopes, or slightly below the hilltops, are characterised by a dense group of buildings, stretching along the waves. Other villages take place on ledges. The placement of houses is rather variable and is more tending to give houses a nicer orientation towards the sun, than trying to follow the pattern shown by the roads. Though some houses are attached, villages keep a very open, well aerated structure, within which wooded areas can appear. Outside of these, living spaces are rare, and is mostly represented by big farms and castles, spread in the landscape, which affirm their cultural Heritage.

Sources : FRW - CPDT

Typical coutryside habitat

The typical Condroz' house, high and without length, shows a relatively broad facade. They are generally two (sometimes up to two and a half) floors high, under a two-sided, symmetric roof. To this one-ridgepiece model, gathering all functions under a same roof, get added more complex units, made of smaller, additional buildings, sometimes aligned with the main lines of the central building. This organisation defines a circulating and working space, under the form of an open yard.

In bigger farms, a wall closes the yard, thus only accessible through a fence or a gate. Condroz' traditional houses are built from local materials, which are extracted from several quarries in the area. The grey, slightly shiny aspect of limestone, and the warmer shades of blond sandstone, embellish the walls of these houses along with, in some places, the presence of white facing. Grey tiles and slate make it as most of roof covering materials; as red tiles are used more seldom in Condroz.

Sources : FRW - CPDT

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