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to Brussels. ATH. 1. Route. 7
From Tournal To Renaix, 18!/2 M., railway in 3/4-4 hr. (fares 2 fr. 90 c.,
2 fr., 1 fr.46c.). This line passes (3!/2M.) Obigies, whence Mont St. Aubert
is ascended in 85 min. (comp. p. 86). — 18'/2 M. Renaix, see p. 79.
From Tournal to St. Amanp, 46 M., railway in 4 hr. — To (41/2 M.)
Antoing, see p. 6. At (7 M.) Hollain is the ‘Pierre Brunehault’, a huge
monolith of possibly Druidic origin. 8/2 M. Bléharies is the Belgian and
(14 M.) Maulde-Mortagne is the French frontier-station. — 16M. St. Amand,
see Baedeker’s Northern France.
From Tovurnal To Oncutes (Douat), 1561/2 M., railway in 2 brs., crossing
the French frontier.
Tournai is connected by Licut Raitways with Frasnes-lez-Buissenal
(p. 73), with Péruwelz (p.6), and with Wéchin (p. 76).
Beyond Tournai the undulating and well-cultivated province of
Hainault is traversed. Mont St. Aubert (p. 86) long remains con-
spicuous to the left. 87 M. Havinnes ; 91 M. Barry-Maulde; 92 M.
Pipaiz. — 94M. Leuze (1565 ft.), a small stocking-manufacturing
town on the Dendre, with a cruciform church restored in 1742, is
the junction of the Ghent-Oudenaarde-Leuze-Blaton line (p. 79).
— 96M. Chapelle-d- Wattines. — 98 M. Ligne (440 ft.), which
gives a title to the princely family of that name. About 41/, M. from
the station is the chateau of Moulbaix, built in imitation of Wind-
sor Castle and belonging to the Marquis de Chasteler.
104 M. Ath (105 ft.; Cygne; Hét. de Bruxelles, Aigle d Or,
both near the station; Hdét.- Restaurant de l Univers, opposite the
station), on the Dendre, formerly a fortress, with 11,200 inhab., con-
tains little to detain the traveller. The Hétel de Ville was erected
in 1600. The church of St. Julian, founded in 1393, was almost
wholly rebuilt after a fire in 1817. The Tour du Burbant, the most
ancient structure in the town, dates in its lower part from 1150.
Numerous lime-kilns in the environs.
Ath is the junction for the line from DenpDERLEEUW (Alosl) TO Gram-
O Atu, and JurnBisE (Mons): 34 M., railway inca, 2 hrs. (fares 5 fr. 30,
. 60, 2 fr. 10 c.). — Denderleeuw, see p. 3. The train ascends the left
bank of the Dender or Dendre. 21/2M. Okeghem. Then (A!/2M.) Ninove, an old
town with 8500 inhab., the seat, as early as the middle of the 12th cent.,
of a Premonstratensian abbey, of which no trace remains; the parish-
church contains two paintings by De Crayer. Light railway to Hal via
Leerbeek, see p. 9; steam-tramway to Brussels (14 M.) via (51/2 M.)
Schepdael. — The next stations are Santbergen, Ideghem, and Schendelbeke.
— 13M. Grammont, see p. 217. — 16M. Acren, the first place in Hainault;
17 M. Lessines, with porphyry quarries, is the junction of the Enghien-
Renaix line (see p. 8); Papignies; Rebaiz. — 25 M. Ath, see above. —
Then Maffle, Mevergnies-Attre, and Brugelette. 31 M. Lambron-Casteau,
with the interesting roins of what was formerly one of the richest abbeys
in Belgium, now belonging to the French Carthusians. 32 M. Lens (p. 8). —
At (34 M.) Jurbise the Brussels and Paris line is reached (see p. 213).
From ATH To Biaton, 12 M., railway in 3/4 hr. — The stations are
small and uninteresting, with the exception of (7 M.) Beleil (190 ft.;
Couronne; Duc de Brabant, R. 11/2, D. 13/4 fr.), a village With*the™ cél-
ebrated chateau and estate of the Prince de Ligne, which have been in pos-
session of the family upwards of 500 years. Prince Charles Joseph de
Ligne (1735-1814), the eminent general and statesman, gives a long account
in his letters of this estate with its park and gardens, laid out by Le
Notre. Astatue to the prince has been erected in the village. The park
is always open to the public. The chateau, which lost numerous treasures |