1. The History
On the Vieux Chemin d'Ere, the former brickworks at Ere are located south-west of the Belgium city of Tournai. There’s little history on the web about the works were constructed around the last decade of the 19th century. The works belonged to Valère Ghyselen in the first part of the 20th century. It was he who most likely placed a statue of the Sacred Heart on the façade of the brickworks during its construction to request for divine protection for his company (stupidly, on my visit, I overlooked this detail!). The brickworks was incorporated as Briqueteries Mécaniques d'Ere PLC, was founded on March 12th, 1921.
During the Nazi occupation, one day the factory was visited by a German lieutenant who ordered that the workers to produce bricks for the war effort. The soldiers left having been assured that the factory would make bricks through the nights. They made tons of bricks, with all 10 kilns fired up through the night, but then destroyed all they had made. The lieutenant returned, only to be told by the foreman that the Lieutenant’s soldiers had destroyed everything shortly before he arrived. He said he had tried to tell the ‘soldiers’ that the bricks were meant for the German war effort but to no avail. The lieutenant spared the lives of the brickmakers alive but destroyed the kilns.
At the end of the war, the story of the brickworks, and the fact that its workers had resisted the Nazis reached the authorities at nearby Tournai, who then funded the reconstruction of the kilns and used its brick rebuild half of the city’s main square. Hence, the brickworks continued production post-war and into the second half of the 20th century, surviving the oil crisis of 1973 when costs increased and construction. I can’t find the exact date of closure of the brickworks. Some sources put closure at circa 1975, while the company that owned and operated the works was declared bankrupt on 1st April, 2017. One thing that is certain is that they haven’t fired any bricks for some time now and the truth probably lieth somewhere in between.
2. The Explore
Firstly, a big thank you to @Bikin Glynn for the heads up on this place. This was the penultimate explore of my winter sojourn in Wallonia. This was a very easy explore. Didn’t fancy taking the hire care down the road-cum-farm track the works are located on, so parked up on the main road and walked up. Entrance was very easy and I spent an enjoyable half-an-hour looking round the place.
Predictably, it’s all about bricks, and a bit of concrete. The kilns are made of bricks, the two chimneys are made of bricks and there’s bricks laying around everywhere too. Beyond that, there’s not too much to report, although I did manage to miss the statue of the Sacred Heart on the façade of the front of the brickworks.
3. The Pictures
This looks like the right place!
Cool loading ramp:
And we’re in:
Bricks galore!
One of the few non-brick things!
Here’s the kilns:
And on to the open concrete domed area:
And some bigger and slightly different tunnel kilns:
Popping out, there’s two chimneys:
This one looks like it might not be around for too much longer:
And back in:
And popping out and round:
And back in. Some ex-wood stairs:
And up onto the upper level:
Bye-bye brick-tastic place….
That's all folks!!!
On the Vieux Chemin d'Ere, the former brickworks at Ere are located south-west of the Belgium city of Tournai. There’s little history on the web about the works were constructed around the last decade of the 19th century. The works belonged to Valère Ghyselen in the first part of the 20th century. It was he who most likely placed a statue of the Sacred Heart on the façade of the brickworks during its construction to request for divine protection for his company (stupidly, on my visit, I overlooked this detail!). The brickworks was incorporated as Briqueteries Mécaniques d'Ere PLC, was founded on March 12th, 1921.
During the Nazi occupation, one day the factory was visited by a German lieutenant who ordered that the workers to produce bricks for the war effort. The soldiers left having been assured that the factory would make bricks through the nights. They made tons of bricks, with all 10 kilns fired up through the night, but then destroyed all they had made. The lieutenant returned, only to be told by the foreman that the Lieutenant’s soldiers had destroyed everything shortly before he arrived. He said he had tried to tell the ‘soldiers’ that the bricks were meant for the German war effort but to no avail. The lieutenant spared the lives of the brickmakers alive but destroyed the kilns.
At the end of the war, the story of the brickworks, and the fact that its workers had resisted the Nazis reached the authorities at nearby Tournai, who then funded the reconstruction of the kilns and used its brick rebuild half of the city’s main square. Hence, the brickworks continued production post-war and into the second half of the 20th century, surviving the oil crisis of 1973 when costs increased and construction. I can’t find the exact date of closure of the brickworks. Some sources put closure at circa 1975, while the company that owned and operated the works was declared bankrupt on 1st April, 2017. One thing that is certain is that they haven’t fired any bricks for some time now and the truth probably lieth somewhere in between.
2. The Explore
Firstly, a big thank you to @Bikin Glynn for the heads up on this place. This was the penultimate explore of my winter sojourn in Wallonia. This was a very easy explore. Didn’t fancy taking the hire care down the road-cum-farm track the works are located on, so parked up on the main road and walked up. Entrance was very easy and I spent an enjoyable half-an-hour looking round the place.
Predictably, it’s all about bricks, and a bit of concrete. The kilns are made of bricks, the two chimneys are made of bricks and there’s bricks laying around everywhere too. Beyond that, there’s not too much to report, although I did manage to miss the statue of the Sacred Heart on the façade of the front of the brickworks.
3. The Pictures
This looks like the right place!
Cool loading ramp:
And we’re in:
Bricks galore!
One of the few non-brick things!
Here’s the kilns:
And on to the open concrete domed area:
And some bigger and slightly different tunnel kilns:
Popping out, there’s two chimneys:
This one looks like it might not be around for too much longer:
And back in:
And popping out and round:
And back in. Some ex-wood stairs:
And up onto the upper level:
Bye-bye brick-tastic place….
That's all folks!!!
