the Toponym roke
in Flobecq



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           In the introduction of his fac simili publication of the Veil Rentier of sire Jehan of Pamele-Oudenaarde, Mr Léo Verriest refers to an exchange which took place in 1219 between Arnulf of Oudenaarde and the abbey of Ename.
Arnulf of Oudenaarde changed the rights he possessed in Kortemark, Handzame and Werken for a part of the forest of La Hameide, 50 ha of the "bos de la Roque" and 50 ha of adjacent land in Flobecq, a piece of land at Augomont, a piece of land at Respensard and goods in Everbecq and Askins.

In 1275 this same bos de le Roke is mentioned in the Veil Rentier, as is the masure de le Roke and the brothers Wicars and Jehans, sons of Colart de le Roke who lived there.
Gilles li Bouteilliers held in fief a piece of land, situated near the road "dou Savlon", and the fief of Bauduin d'Ancre, at the "Mauvais Bas", where one could go up to a place called "à le Roke".

In 1283 sire Jehan of Pamele-Oudenaarde and his wife -in order to save their immortal soul- donated the land and the masure next to the bos de le Roke in Flobecq to the friars of the order of the Willemites.

In his "Toponymie de Flobecq ..." abbot A. Mariaule mentions the toponym "a le Roke" in 1373.
He probably found this in the "comptes de la recette générale de l'ancien comté de Hainaut".

In 1410 al the fiefs situated in Flobecq, held from the count of Hainaut, were summed up in the cartularium of the feudal court of Hainaut.
In total these feudal tenures represented more than 250 ha of land in the villages of Flobecq, Wodecq, Ghoy, Ogy, Ellezelles and Lessines.
Knight Rasse de le Prée was registered as fiefholder of 6 dagwand of forest, situated on a place which was called "à le Roke", of the fief named 3carlut" in the village of "Flobiecque" and of 10 more dagwand of forest at the place called "à le Roke".

In 1437 the registre des rentes dues à la Duchesse de Bavière, douairrière de Hainaut, Hollande et Zélande en sa terre de Flobecq et Lessines" was drawn up.
The bos de le Rocke is mentioned several times in it, as in the renewed register of 1444.

In his artcle concearning the forests in Opbrakel and Flobecq, Mr S. De Lange tells us that the forests on the north-east side of the forest of Pottelberg, namely the Brakelbos and the adjacent Bernaertsbos, in the Middle Ages came into the possession of the sires of Opbrakel.
The other, and bigger part of these forests (to which the documents refer as "bois de Portebecq" in 1281, ..., "bos de Portrberghe, Bos Saint-Pière, de le Louvière et de le Rocque" in 1447) was owned by the sires of Flobecq.

Abbot Mariaule refers to the "Camp de le Roke" and "la Rocke vers les Willemins" in 1454.
He also found a "bois de le Rocque" in 1479.

In 1807, the land surveyor F. Dubuat made a plan of Flobecq for the Offices of land registry.
The "bois du Roc" was measured up.

In 1842 Mr C. Popp drew up a "plan parcellaire de Flobecq".
The parcel in section F, number 510h is indicated on this paln as "bois du Roch".
This "bois du Roch" measured 4ha 92a and 30 ca, and belonged to couple Léon Delcroix-Tredex, farmers who lived in Ellezelles.

On the virtual chart room of the Waloon community we found the exact location of this "bois du Roch" on the Popp-chart of Flobecq of 1842.

Between 1865 and 1880 the dépôt de la guerre of the Belgian army drew up the so called IGN-charts.
Zincographic reproductions of these charts were printed from 1872 to 1881.
on the ING-chart of Flobecq from 1872, we can locate the bois du Roch.

In 1948 abbot Mariaule wrote his article concearning the "Toponymie de Flobecq...".
He confides us that the bos de le Roke then could be situated on the heathland in Flobecq and Ellezelles.
Certain parts of this forest, located in Flobecq, were called the "bois Cambier" and the "bois du medecin".

When the railroadtrack number 87 Ronse-Lessines, which crossed Flobecq from west to east, was suspended, this former railroadtrack was reconverted into "le sentier touristique des collines", the touristic path of the hills.
The part of this touristic path in between the streets Boudenghien and La Planque, takes you past the bos de le Roke.

the photograph on the left shows us the touristic path of the hills, at the Boudenghien side, in the background we can see the bos de le Roke.
On the photograph on the right you can see the bos de le Roke.

On a 21st century roadmap, the toponym roke could be situated in the south-west of Flobecq, indicated here by the blue dot, just next to the toponym Bruyère.
The green zones just above th blue dot indicate the parcells of forest (of what's left) of the bos de le Roke.