Wez-Velvain

Wez-Velvain (Picard: Wés'-Vélvin) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Brunehaut, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium.

It was a municipality of its own before the 1977 fusion of the Belgian municipalities.

The Saint Bice church.

Wez-Velvain is made of two hamlets named after the Latin word vallis, "a valley", and fel vain, meaning "a fertile plain".[1]

The written form Wez-Velvain existed in 1012 but was later altered as Guiez, Wes-Velvein, Weesh and Velvaing.[1]

In 979, Godefroid le Captif ceded the farms of Neufville to the chapter of the St. Peter abbey in Ghent.[1] The local fortress was burnt down by the Flemings in 1288.[1]

In 1302, Wez was sacked by Gossuin d'Antoing after his enemies had been welcomed there by Anselme d'Aigremont.[1] The fortress was besieged by the Burgundians in 1478 and in 1521 by Baron de Ligne on Charles Quint's behalf.[1]

It was later bought by the bishops of Tournai and eventually demolished in 1820.[1]

The church of Wez-Velvain, built in 1775, was one of the few in the region that was not destroyed by the Germans during the World War I.[1]

Etymology

Wé is a Walloon word meaning « ford ».

50°32′N 03°23′E / 50.533°N 3.383°E / 50.533; 3.383

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Histoire de Brunehaut – Commune de Brunehaut" (in French). Retrieved 2026-05-14.
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