Belgium

The Castle of Oudoumont was built in the eighteenth century and belonged to the Bellefroid family. Its park was in the French style but was later replaced by a landscaped park with pond.

Good hunting grounds - this one escaped for now, but for how long?

The Oudoumont farm is adjacent to the castle

Typical open field landscape of the Hesbaye

Located along the Yerne, the village is mentioned for the first time in 1034 under the name of Donum Cyric a diploma of the Emperor Conrad II. In 1084 the abbey of Saint Jacques acquires a vast area and conceded the advocate Regnier, attorney of St. Lambert. But Donceel had his destiny linked to the lordship of Haneffe. In 1456, the Godefrein Donceel bought two properties on the edge of the Yerne to build a castle. In the seventeenth century the castle passed into the hands of the Hemricourt, then the Chestret of which still occupies it.

Donceel was entirely devoted to agriculture. In the second half of the nineteenth century the production of beet sugar was important. The Chestret family held the job of mayor of the town for nearly 100 years.

The first of High Judges (Hauts Voués) of Anthisnes were the Dukes of Limburg. In 1292, the role is assigned to Thomas Corbeau d’Antine and perpetuated in his family until 1671. It is Godefroid of Anthisnes who built the outbuildings of the “Avouerie ( Confessional) in 1642 and the castle in 1648. The tower of the XII century stands in the center of this Renaissance style building. The castle was built in bluestone to the south and west facades. The north and east facades are in brick and stone. Inside is the original paving stone work on edge, and the imposing wood work which inspires grandeur and solemnity.

Villers, a small village in the Condroz region traces its origins to the Neolithic, and its first development in the Roman era. Indeed, the village was located near the Roman road between Tongeren and Arlon. Thereafter, no documents are found mentioning the village of Villers until 1124, when a deed of land to an abbey contains the names of Albertus de Villers and his brother Theodoricus.

But in the second half of the 13th century, according to the cartulary of the Abbey Flône of November 16, 1260, the brothers of the Abbey ceded land located on the villages of Villers and Clémodeau to a certain Gerard de Villers, brother of the Temple (Templar).

Fraiture is a small village in Belgium’s Condroz region. It is located midway between Liege and Marche-en-Famenne and a few miles from Huy. It is part of Tinlot commune which includes the villages of Abée, Fraiture, Ramelot, Scry, Seny et Soheit-Tinlot. Fraiture included the lordship of Houchenée.

The village has many old buildings dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
En prenant la rue de la Vieille Forge, située en face de l'église; The Demoitié farm was built in 1665. The Grosjean farm looks like an old castle.

The new church of Saint-Remacle: built in a Néo-Roman style contains some old pieces, including a baptismal head angle dating from 1581, a memorial to John Brialmont, who died in 1596. He was Lord of Fraiture, Gentleman of the King of Spain and Mayor of Huy next to his wife Louise Van der Meer, and an old hand pump located just opposite the church.

The Lordship of Houchenée is already mentioned in 1316. In 1711, its area was about 150 bonniers, or 130 Ha. The Abbey of Saint-Jacques de Liege had a half-fee since 1415 and held until the French Revolution. It is known that the manor was sold in 1711 to Jacques de Bare by the Geloes Barons. At the death of the last de Baré, the property was acquired about 1813 by Baron Louis-Guillaume de Moffarts. The descendants of this family put the property up for sale and it was acquired in 1961 by Jean de Volder. His widow, born Baroness van der Straeten-Waillet resides there now.

Hody (in Walloon "Hodi") is a section of the Belgian commune of Anthisnes located in the Walloon Province of Liege .
It was a separate municipality before the amalgamation of municipalities in 1977 . The first mention of Hody dates from the eleventh century and an explicit mention in 1209. It is part of the County Logne and reports to the District of Ocquier, while Anthisnes and Vien report to the Condroz.

The solicitors of Hody, as early as 1444, are the lords of Sart, one of seven manors "from beyond the woods". In 1645, the story of Hody and Anthisnes merge already: the solicitorship of Hody is exercised by Godefroid of Antine, then passes to the Wal barons.

Ardennes Cemetery is situated near the southeast edge of the village of Neupre (formerly Neuville-en-Condroz), 12 miles southwest of Liege, Belgium. Highway N-63 from Liege to Marche or Dinant and Paris passes the main entrance.

The Ardennes American Cemetery, 90 ½acres in extent, is one of fourteen permanent American World War II military cemeteries constructed on foreign soil by the American Battle Monuments Commission. The 1st Infantry Division liberated the site on 8 September 1944. A temporary cemetery was established on the site on 8 February 1945.
After the war, when the temporary cemeteries were disestablished by the Army, the remains of American military Dead whose next of kin requested permanent interment overseas were moved to one of the fourteen permanent cemetery sites on foreign soil, usually the one which was closest to the temporary cemetery.