The Enfants Noyés Nature Reserve (; ), commonly called the Enfants Noyés Ponds (; ), is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

consisting of three large ponds located in a valley of the

Sonian Forest The Sonian Forest or Sonian Wood (, ; , ) is a forest at the south-eastern edge of Brussels, Belgium. It is connected to the Bois de la Cambre, Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos, an urban public park which enters the city up to from the Pentag ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. The nature reserve consists of three distinct ponds: the ''Étang du Fer à Cheval'' (Horseshoe Pond), the ''Étang des Canards Sauvages'' (Wild Ducks' Pond) and the ''Étang du Clos des Chênes'' (Oak's Clos Pond).

History

Origins and name

The Enfants Noyés Nature Reserve owes its name to a misunderstanding. A mill once stood on the edge of the pond. It belonged to a certain Verdroncken (Dutch for "drowned"). His children inherited it and got into the habit of calling it the Mill of the Verdroncken children (''Kinderen Verdroncken''), until a mistranslation turned ''Kinderen Verdroncken'' into ''Verdronken Kinderen'', which literally means "drowned children".

Commercial use

Through successive inheritances, the ponds became the property of the Van der Meulen family, an important family of freshwater fish merchants in Brussels, many of whom were deans of the

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

of freshwater fishmongers. They owned many fishponds and ponds, especially in the

. Elisabeth Van der Meulen (1720–1769), wife of Jean-Baptiste van Dievoet (1704–1776), was the last owner of the ponds; it was she who sold them to the State in 1744.

Gallery

File:Étang du Fer à Cheval.png, ''Étang du Fer à Cheval'' File:Étang des Canards Sauvages.jpg, ''Étang des Canards Sauvages'' File:Étang du Clos des Chênes.jpg, ''Étang du Clos des Chênes''

Archaeology

Archaeological traces of human settlements,

stone axe Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a c ...

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...

scraper Scrape, scraper or scraping may refer to: Biology and medicine * Abrasion (medical), a type of injury * Scraper (biology), grazer-scraper, a water animal that feeds on stones and other substrates by grazing algae, microorganism and other matter ...

hammerstone In archaeology, a hammerstone is a hard cobble used to strike off lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone during the process of lithic reduction. The hammerstone is a rather universal stone tool which appeared early in most regions of the wo ...

s, as well as spherical vases with flared necks (preserved at the

Royal Museums of Art and History The Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) (; ) are a group of museums in Brussels, Belgium. They are part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and consist of five museums: the Art & History Museum, the ...

) dating from 3,000 to 2,200 BC have been discovered between the valley of the nature reserve and the valley of Vuylbeek. At that time, the

extended over most of

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

. Also visible not far from the ponds are multiple

tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

(burial mounds), probably built during the first millennium BC. File:Zone archéologique de la forêt de Soignes.jpg, The archaeological site File:Tumuli de la forêt de Soignes.jpg, The tumuli near the ponds

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Vallon des Enfants Noyés, Enfants Noyés Nature Reserve
Bruxelles –- Environment File

Trivia on the name of the reserve
Lakes of Brussels Parks in Brussels Nature reserves in Belgium Year of establishment missing Uccle Watermael-Boitsfort