Last modified: 2019-07-30 by ivan sache
Keywords: sombreffe | merlettes: 3 (red) | birds: 3 (red) |
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Municipal flag of Sombreffe - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 17 November 2007
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The municipality of Sombreffe (7,732 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 3,578 ha) is located 20 km north-west of Namur, on the borders with (Walloon) Brabant and Hainaut. The municipality of Sombreffe is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Sombreffe (1,763 ha), Boignée (308 ha), Ligny (589 ha) and Tongrinne (841 ha).
Sombreffe was crossed in the Roman times by the Bavay-Tongeren way, crossing the northern part of the today's municipal territory, where a Gallo-Roman tomb was found in 1959.
In the Middle Age, Sombreffe was a border village divided into the two
domains of Sombreffe, part of the Duchy of Brabant, and
Mont-sur-Sombreffe, part of the County of Namur. A boundary stone
limiting the two domains is still kept in the town hall of Sombreffe.
The two domains were united in 1810 by an Imperial Decree signed by
Napoléon I.
The castle of Sombreffe was built in the XII-XIIIth century as a
Brabantian border fortress, thus explaining its location in a plain
rather than on a height, as usual for the watching fortresses.
Partially burned at the end of the XVIth century, the castle was
rebuilt with three main towers and a unique entrance gate protected by
two smaller towers. The succesive owners of the castle belonged to
famous lineages, such as Orbais, Virnenbourg, Lalaing, Ligne, Oignies
and Lannoy. In spite of its registration on the Heritage List in
Wallonia, the castle of Sombreffe was ruined when Dr. Geerts purchased
it in 1982. A complete restoration made it possible to use the castle
for seminars, weddings, etc.
Source: Municipal website
Ligny is the place of the battle won by Napoléon over the Prussians on 16 June 1815, two days before the disaster of Waterloo. A very detailed account of the battle can be read of the website of the Napoleonic cultural movement Les Amis de Ligny.
Ivan Sache, 17 November 2007
The municipal flag of Sombreffe is horizontally divided
yellow-red-yellow (3:2:3) with three red merlettes placed horizontally
in the upper yellow stripe.
Armoiries communales en Belgique. Communes wallonnes, bruxelloises et germanophones described the flag as Trois laizes longitudinales,
jaune, rouge et jaune (3-2-3), la laize supérieure chargée de trois
merlettes rouges.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 17 November 2007>