The Thiérache stretches south from a line starting at Momignies and heading towards Monceau, Villers-La-Tour, south Chimay, Baileux and south Couvin. The highest altitudes
are at La Trappe (328 m) and Rièzes (342 m). The Bois de Seloignes woods forming the draining divide separate the Meuse basin from the Seine basin. The south of
Thiérache therefore drains towards the Oise and its tributaries.
Under no circumstances should the name of Thiérache be applied to southern Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse beyond Couvin (where the Ardennes talus is clearly marked), and certainly
not to the locality of Oignies-en-Thiérache (towards Nismes), which is in fact in an Ardennes clearing. The name is of historical and linguistic origin but does not refer to the villages location.
It was in the final Neolithic era that humans appeared in the forests of Thiérache. They cut down trees using flint axes. Many examples of these axes have been
discovered in the Oise and Wartoise Valleys, along with knives, scrapers, blades, chisels, graters, arrowheads, etc.
The most important discovery in the region is surely that of the road sign discovered near Rouillie Chapel in 1947, at the boundary between the municipalities of Momignies and Macquenoise. In Macon (towards Momignies), the biggest monetary treasure ever unearthed in Belgium, at least in terms of quantity, was discovered: 43,433 pieces of silver found in 1835 in a terracotta pot, at a depth of 4 to 5 feet. A balneum (or bathing establishment) was also uncovered in Macquenoise.
In the village of Rièzes, 2 km from Scourmont Abbey, Arthur Masson was born (1896). He is still one of the greatest Walloon writers, having authored some thirty books,
including the famous series dedicated to the character Toine Culot (Toine Culot, obèse ardennais; Toine maïeur de Trignolles; Toine dans la tourmente, etc.). He left Rièzes at the age of 7 before returning to Chimay so study humanities, shortly before his military service, to teach at the Athénée Royal. There is a visitor trail dedicated to him at Treignes (towards Couvin-Nismes).
Randonnées au coeur d'une nature préservée GUIDE+
