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Decoster's house was a landmark location during the
Decoster owned about of land on which the house was located. The house was used by Decoster as a small inn or "cabaret". Decoster's house is not marked on the ''Ferraris van kaart'' of 1777, but the tracks and roads in the area are and the location of the house was recorded in documents written shortly after the battle. For example,
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...
. It stood on the eastern side of the Waterloo–Genappe main road south of the junction with the minor road to Plancenoit (south La Belle Alliance and north the farm of Rossomme). According to Jean-Baptiste Decoster Napoleon spent the early part of the Battle of Waterloo and around Rossomme and then at about 17:00 moved to a position near Decoster's house where he remained until about 19:00.
History
Thesmallholding
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...
belong to Jean-Baptiste Decoster who was an unwilling local guide for Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
and his reminiscences form an important primary source for the locations where Napoleon resided during the battle, including a hillock or a mound close to his house. According to Decoster Napoleon spent the early part in and around Rossomme and then at about 17:00 moved to a position near Decoster's house where he remained until about 19:00.
Decoster owned about of land on which the house was located. The house was used by Decoster as a small inn or "cabaret". Decoster's house is not marked on the ''Ferraris van kaart'' of 1777, but the tracks and roads in the area are and the location of the house was recorded in documents written shortly after the battle. For example, Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
writing a few months after the battle places the house "at the distance of a gun-shot from La Belle Alliance", and a map in (to the right) places the house about half a kilometre south of La Belle Alliance and it places Rossomme at 1.5 km from La Belle Alliance—Siborne's 1844 map which is a much or accurate one places Decoster's house at a distance of from La Bell Alliance and Rossomme at , which is a similar ratio—on modern maps as the Rossomme site is from La Bel Alliance, this would place Decoster's house south La Belle Alliance.
See also
*List of Waterloo Battlefield locations
The Waterloo Battlefield is located in the municipalities of Braine-l'Alleud and Lasne and Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo, about south of Brussels, and about from the town of Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo. The ordering of the places in the list is ...
Notes
References
* * starts: "Jean-Baptiste Decoster ..." * * *Further reading
* — "La Belle—Alliance est situéésur la route de Charleroi à 500 mètres au nord de la maison De Coster" * — "Decoster was a Flemish peasant, owning a tiny farm on the east-side of the Brussels-road, between La Belle Alliance and the farm of Rossomme, about 800 metre north of this farm, in the corner of the road and the track leading to Plancenoit." {{coord, 50, 39, 50.72, N, 4, 24, 49.72, E, region:BE, display=title Waterloo Battlefield locations