Windbreak

When renovation work began at the Waaiburg, a nearly intact half-timbered rear facade was discovered behind false walls and drop ceilings. This marked the start of a long quest to uncover the history of the historic buildings on the site, which we have gradually managed to reveal. Thanks to historical research and scientific analyses, we have come to better understand the site’s long history in recent years. The site surrounding the central historic building spans approximately five hundred years and comprises four major phases.

Phase I: House with moat and farm buildings (1533–1633)

Dendrochronological research revealed that the wood used to construct the roof truss was felled between 1533 and 1536. Shortly thereafter, it was used in the construction of the Waaiburg.

This likely represents a second construction phase, and the wooden trusses on the ground floor and first floor may be older. After all, historical sources mention the Waaiburg as early as 1503. In any case, a fairly substantial three-story (manor) house and several outbuildings were constructed in the sixteenth century. The house was not built of brick, but of a wooden half-timbered structure and clay. It is this wooden structure that has largely survived to this day. In the center of the house was a large hearth, traces of which are still visible today. On the ground floor, several beams are decorated with a so-called pear-bead motif, which was in use in Flanders from the end of the fifteenth century. The site was surrounded by a moat, which also indicated a certain level of prosperity among these first owners.

The size of the house (8 bays and 2 stories), its location outside the village center (about 150 meters from St. Amand’s Church), and the presence of a moat (which served no military purpose but was a status symbol) suggest that this was the seat of the local manor. In the late Middle Ages, the wild heath and forest lands around Geel were converted into farmland. The owner of the manor—the noble lord or lady—was the initiator of this lucrative undertaking.

🕑 15 minutes