Habay   ▪

Anlier
The pont d'Oye
The ironworks
Maurice Grévisse
The Mageroy Gallo-Roman villa
Rulles, the village of bridges

The ironworks.

From the 16th century, the Rulles valley was opened up by industrialists eager to develop ironworking here. Two main factors attracted them to this area: the water provided hydraulic energy and the forest provided wood for charcoal which was used as a fuel in the production of iron.

Five factories were established here in a short time over a few kilometres all along the river: the Prince, Pont d'Oye, Châtelet, Bologne and La Trapperie ironworks. Large dams were erected, creating lakes of water for use in the factories. The ore was extracted in the Lorraine region of Belgium and France (from the Athus-Halanzy basin) and was transported to the ironworking sites where it was washed in large sedimentation tanks and then crushed in a mill. The smelting process followed and was carried out in a huge furnace measuring between six and eight feet in height.

Once lit, the fire was maintained with enormous bellows driven by hydraulic power. With the fire roaring, the furnace was filled from the top, alternating the ore with charcoal and limestone to facilitate the smelting process. Once the process had begun, the furnace was in operation day and night for many months. As soon as the iron was molten (after two or three days), the first casting took place. The molten iron would flow out onto the floor of wet sand. It was then channelled towards a hollow, a sort of mould, where it cooled and formed a large bar of iron weighing between six hundred and one thousand kilos. This heavy mass of pig iron required further processing either on site or at another location in the valley to transform it into iron or steel in a refinery. Once a mass of more or less purified iron was obtained, large mechanical hammers were used to remove any surplus slag and weld together the particles of iron. Once these various processes had been completed, the end product was used in metal production.

The products of the factories in the Rulles basin were renowned for being of a very high quality. This 'Habay iron' as it was known was exported to Liège as well as France and Germany.
The industry contributed to the wealth and fame of the master ironworkers who built magnificent castles and were awarded titles of nobility. These dwellings were not immune to the decline which hit at the end of the 18th century, resulting in the bankruptcy of their owner, the marquis of Bost Moulin and his wife, Louise de Lambertye, the last marquess of Pont d'Oye who remains the subject of popular legend amongst the population even today.