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Vottem ( wa, Votem) is a village of
Vottem is at the limit of the Hesbaye Plateau and the Meuse valley. From higher to lower locations in the village, there are the following geological formations:Bourguignon, . TEXTE EXPLICATIF DE LA CARTE DES SOLS DE LA BELGIQUE. TEXTE EXPLICATIF DE LA PLANCHETTE DE Liège 121E. Édité sous les auspices de l'Institut pour l'encouragement de la Recherche Scientifique dans l'Industrie et l'Agriculture (I. R. S. I. A.) http://carto1.wallonie.be/Documents/CSB/Livrets/121E.PDF
*
* Bouxthay Chapel (ruined)
* There used to be two windmills in Vottem, the ''Moulin Depireux'' and the ''Moulin Bouquette''; their towers remained in the landscape until 1970, when they were destroyed to make room for the highway.
* The " Centre pour Illégaux de Vottem" (CIV) exists since 1999. Non-accepted asylum seekers reside here, before travelling back to their home country. People sleep in rooms with four beds.
Vottem holds 26 km of public footpaths, out of which 14 km are in good shape, 2 km are difficult (often included in croplands), 1 km illegally closed, 2 km inaccessible with unknown status and 5 km have been officially abandoned (often for sake of highway construction).Itinéraires Wallonie - Vottem https://www.balnam.be/localite/vottem This high density of footpaths is explained by the previous dominance of horticulture in this village. The intensive work in the gardens required a lot of foot mobility; and the products were transported to the local auction market by hand carts; the width of the footpaths was adjusted to these carts: minimum 1.17 metres.
Vottem ( wa, Votem) is a village of Wallonia
Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...
and a district of the municipality of Herstal
Herstal (; wa, Hesta), formerly known as Heristal, or Héristal, is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. It lies along the Meuse river. Herstal is included in the "Greater Liège" agglomeration, which c ...
, located in the province of Liège
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...
, Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
.
The Rida river has its springs in Vottem.
It was a fully-fledged municipality up to 1976. The Jolivet and Bernalmont hamlets had already been transferred to the town of Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
in 1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
.
Hamlets and neighbourhoods
* Bouxhtay, ''Å Bouh'tè, Å Bouf'tè'', hamlet mentioned since 1278 * Chapeauville, ''A chapêvêye'', neighbourhood mentioned since 1534 * Cheval Blanc, ''Å blanc Dj'vå'', after the "White Horse inn" that was located there * Croix Jouette, ''Creû Djouwète'', hamlet mentioned since 1552 * Gaillard-Cheval, ''Å Galiår'', hamlet mentioned since 1530 * Gascogniers, ''Ås Cascognîs'', hamlet mentioned since 1812 * Haxhes, ''Hå'', ''Håhe'' * Haren, ''Harin'' * Jolivet, ''è Djolivè'' (hamlet mentioned since 1430; transferred to Liège in 1975) * Tiyou, after the Walloon word for the linden that was once growing there. There was also an old windmill, Moulin Bouquette which was destroyed around 1970 for sake of highway construction.Geology and soils
Vottem is at the limit of the Hesbaye Plateau and the Meuse valley. From higher to lower locations in the village, there are the following geological formations:Bourguignon, . TEXTE EXPLICATIF DE LA CARTE DES SOLS DE LA BELGIQUE. TEXTE EXPLICATIF DE LA PLANCHETTE DE Liège 121E. Édité sous les auspices de l'Institut pour l'encouragement de la Recherche Scientifique dans l'Industrie et l'Agriculture (I. R. S. I. A.) http://carto1.wallonie.be/Documents/CSB/Livrets/121E.PDF
* Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
aeolian loess
Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits.
Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...
* Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
sands (Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
)
* Clay with flint
* Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
chalk (Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
) - it makes up the Hesbaye aquifer
* Herve clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
or smectite
A smectite (from ancient Greek ''σμηκτός'' smektos 'lubricated'; ''σμηκτρίς'' smektris 'walker's earth', 'fuller's earth'; rubbing earth; earth that has the property of cleaning) is a mineral mixtures of various swelling sheet sil ...
* Sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
, schists
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...
and coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
pertaining to the Palaeozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...
(also called ''Houiller'')
Locally, near the Rida springs, freshwater tufa has been deposited.
Dominant soils in Vottem are well drained loamy soils(Ab) and gravelly loamy soils with silex, quite well drained also (Gb). The latter are directly related to outcrops of clay-with-flint. Remarkably, on the soil map, spring areas are not differentiated, most probably in relation to a low augering density (one per ha)
Important buildings
* The Saint Étienne catholic church dates from 1788. It is a neo-classical church, holding a squared tower at the western side, in bricks and stone. It has been restored in 1966, and the old furniture disappeared at that time. One of the church bells dated from 1838,; it was stolen by theGerman
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
occupier in 1943.Fraikin, J., Gérard, P., Carpay, F., Matthys, H., Noelanders, J., Donis, P., 1987. ''Le temps où Vottem riait. Tome I. Histoire et Anecdotes de notre village''. Ans, Imprimerie Frings.
* Temple of the Antoinist cult
* Bouxthay Chapel (ruined)
* There used to be two windmills in Vottem, the ''Moulin Depireux'' and the ''Moulin Bouquette''; their towers remained in the landscape until 1970, when they were destroyed to make room for the highway.
* The " Centre pour Illégaux de Vottem" (CIV) exists since 1999. Non-accepted asylum seekers reside here, before travelling back to their home country. People sleep in rooms with four beds.
Public footpaths
Vottem holds 26 km of public footpaths, out of which 14 km are in good shape, 2 km are difficult (often included in croplands), 1 km illegally closed, 2 km inaccessible with unknown status and 5 km have been officially abandoned (often for sake of highway construction).Itinéraires Wallonie - Vottem https://www.balnam.be/localite/vottem This high density of footpaths is explained by the previous dominance of horticulture in this village. The intensive work in the gardens required a lot of foot mobility; and the products were transported to the local auction market by hand carts; the width of the footpaths was adjusted to these carts: minimum 1.17 metres.
References
{{Reflist Herstal Former municipalities of Liège Province