Ath

Ath grew beside the confluence of the two branches of the Dender, around the castle of the counts of Hainaut. In the twelfth century Baldwin IV built the great Burbant Tower to defend his authority near the frontier with Flanders. A new town developed beneath its protection, and in the fourteenth century it acquired walls of its own.

The town's strategic position continued to shape its history. French forces took Ath in 1667, and Vauban rebuilt its fortifications for Louis XIV. Besieged again in the wars that followed, Ath was captured by the French in 1745; the fortress was dismantled before they departed. Alongside this military history, the town's annual Ducasse procession grew into a distinctive civic tradition with its large figures of giants.