Walcourt

Walcourt grew around the church of Saint Maternus, founded in 1026 in the country south of the Sambre. Its Gothic basilica housed an ancient image of the Virgin and became a place of devotion. The town also lay in a region contested by the armies of France and its neighbours. In 1689, during the Nine Years' War, French troops fought forces of the Grand Alliance at the Battle of Walcourt.