Former metalworks known as the Forge Gendarme

In 1817, Jean-Nicolas Gendarme set up a forge to produce cannonballs in the old Saint-Basle mill. In 1824, he built a blast furnace on the Vrigne stream, along with a pond, coal sheds and a forge. The complex, completed in 1825, also included workers‘ accommodation, nicknamed “the Barracks”, and employers’ accommodation decorated with cannonballs.

Production included cast iron (irons, projectiles) and bar iron, rolled at Vrigne au Bois. In 1851, the site consumed Ardennes ore and charcoal, processing 800 tonnes of cast iron and 1,300 tonnes of iron. Marguerite Gendarme-Evain leased the plant to the Dardenne family in 1876, then to Creton in 1935, who modernised the site with turbines and steam engines before closing it in 1969.

The buildings, made of limestone rubble and ashlar, are carefully designed, with symmetrical facades, large dormer windows, niches and long-sloped roofs. Some of these features have survived, although they have partially collapsed or been destroyed since the 1980s.