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Origin and history

The former factory of Vrigne-aux-Bois, known as Forge Gendarme, was built in the early 19th century by the forge master Jean-Nicolas Gendarme. In 1817 he obtained permission to install a two-fire forge to make artillery pellets in an old mill destroyed in 1791. In 1820 he asked to build a blast furnace near the Saint-Basle pond, but the project was finally carried out on the Vrigne stream, at the location of a mill acquired in 1813. A royal ordinance of 1824 validated this blast furnace, supplemented by ponds, coal halls, and dwellings (masters and workers) completed in 1825.

The industrial site consisted of four parallel halls housing the forge, the blast furnace, and coal reserves, as well as a sawmill and groceries. In 1845, upon the death of Gendarme, the factory passed to his daughter, Marie Marguerite, wife of Devin, and was rented from 1876 to families such as the Dardennes and the Cretons, who exploited it until its closure in 1969. Modernized with turbines and a steam engine, the factory produced 800,000 kg of iron (iron and pellet) and 1,300 000 kg of iron in bars annually, fed by local ore and Liège coal. Joined the Historic Monuments in 1991, part of its roof collapsed in 1985.

The buildings, made of limestone and cut stone, illustrate the industrial architecture of the era, with neat facades and characteristic skylights. The employer housing, transformed into a school, has a pediment carved of balls, symbol of Gendarme's fortune, linked to military orders. The workers' houses, called the Caserne, carry iron draughts dated 1825. The site, with its ponds and hydraulic system, remains a remarkable example of the 19th century Ardennes metallurgical industry, marked by technical innovation and the social organization of local forests and mines.

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