Franc Bois Lompret site

Like a natural sentinel, the Franc Bois site erects its steep slopes, covered with maple groves, on the course of the Eau Blanche and offers a remarkable panorama over the village of Lompret.

This privileged situation has attracted man since ancient times. Numerous flints and tools dating back to the Palaeolithic period (30,000 BC) were discovered here. This was followed by the construction of a Gallic and then a Roman fortification, hence its common name of “Roman Camp”.

Included in the list of Wallonia’s exceptional heritage since 2013, the Franc Bois site is one of the jewels of our Walloon natural heritage. There are some remarkable plants, such as the two-leaved Scilla.

But it is above all the presence of one of the rare indigenous yew trees that makes this a prestigious site. Legend has it that Roman soldiers planted the many yew trees: according to beliefs, in order to benefit from eternal rest, any soldier who died in a foreign land had to be buried with a yew berry brought from his native country… For the more Cartesian, it is rather the particular conditions of the soil combined with the sunshine of the site that have favoured the development of this species.

For more information, see our heritage sheet.