Church architecture, a former presbytery placed under protection at an early date, and historic mills offer different starting points for exploring Bomal’s cultural history. There is also a rural cycling route and a hiking trail focused on religious architecture. When planning, it is worth distinguishing the routes by their respective focus: the Circuit de la Ramée connects five villages; Coyardes passes through places and buildings associated with religious architecture.
Churches, Presbytery and Village Boundary
The Église Notre-Dame du Rosaire is a Neoclassical church built in 1768–1769 from brick and white stone on a high plinth of quartzite and sandstone. Its tower is thought to be probably Romanesque and is dated to the 11th or 12th century. The church preserves a 15th-century Gothic image of Christ, several Baroque statues and a 16th-century baptismal font made of blue stone. Thus, a precisely specified construction period, a tentative earlier date for the tower and furnishings from different centuries stand side by side.
A description from September 2022 reports that municipal workers restored the small chapel in Bomal at the request of some village residents. Bomal’s walled former presbytery dates from 1737. On 6 November 1933, it was protected as a monument and is considered one of Belgium’s earliest protected buildings because of its historical, artistic and architectural significance.
Below the Église Notre-Dame du Rosaire lies the Ferme Dumont; only part of the former main building remains. The church and the adjacent Ferme de la Tourette together form the southern boundary of the village of Bomal. These connections provide a spatial orientation between the church, the southern edge of the village and the only partially preserved former main building of the Ferme Dumont.
Cycling Route and Hiking Trail
The Circuit de la Ramée is a 16.5 km rural cycling route. Via the RAVeL 147 and country roads, it connects the villages of Ramillies, Hédenge, Bomal, Glimes and Mont-Saint-André. The route information has not been updated recently; check the details before setting out.
On foot, Coyardes passes through Mont-Saint-André, Bomal and the hamlet of Laloux. The hiking route traces the history of religious architecture, including the Romanesque tower of Bomal’s church. The two routes therefore differ not only in their mode of travel: the Circuit de la Ramée focuses on a rural cycling route with a stated distance and five connected villages, while Coyardes focuses on the history of religious architecture.
Mills on the Grande Gette
The Grande Gette provided enough flow to power the undershot waterwheels of the Moulin de La Ramée and the Moulin Grognard farther downstream. The Moulin Grognard is now in the territory of Bomal, about 100 metres downstream from the Moulin de La Ramée. The information describes two different connections: the river provided the power, while the direction of the flow indicates the mills’ positions relative to one another.
A landscape initiative on the Grande Gette also concerns Bomal: in 2014, a total of 100 willows were planted in Petit Rosières and Bomal to improve biodiversity and the landscape.
Discover more destinations: Bierbeek, Jodoigne, Rebecq, Boutersem, Tielt-Winge, Waterloo, Ramillies, Huldenberg.
For the main travel overview: Brabant.
