Industrial Heritage

Anyone following the winding footpath through this protected nature reserve unwittingly steps into a fascinating, but forgotten chapter of industrialisation.

Even though the curtain fell on the United Textile Mills (Verenigde Textielfabrieken or Vetex) in Kortrijk over 30 years ago, the company name still graces the streetscape

A concrete water tower still testifies to the ultimate attempt by a group of West Flanders flax companies to secure sufficient water to sustain flax production.

Neutral Moresnet was a mini-state on the border with Belgium for over a century, with the zinc company Vieille Montagne exercising control there.

In 1937, steel company S.A. d'Ougrée-Marihaye established its central workshops in Ougrée, Belgium. The workshops were strategically located on a railway line between the former Ougrée coking plant and the extinguished Blast Furnace B.

Aircraft development in Germany gained momentum after Adolf Hitler came to power in early 1933.

At the end of the 19th century, the Cotonnière du Touquet settled in the northern French textile town of Tourcoing.

For over a century, a graceful concrete bridge has stood above the railway tracks near Mouscron station in Belgium

To dispose of blast furnace slag from the Dudelange iron and steelworks, the company utilised a series of slag wagons provided by the German firm Jünkerather Gewerkschaft.

Between 1909 and 1911, the German coal mine Camphausen was expanded with a fourth headframe in reinforced concrete, a worldwide first at the time.