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What the British did for Brussels

The are slices of England scattered about the Belgian capital - This content is subject to copyright.
The are slices of England scattered about the Belgian capital - This content is subject to copyright.

It’s two years since the Brexit referendum and our days in Brussels are numbered. It’s time to reminisce – to look to the good old days, stretching, ironically, back to Waterloo and a trail of landmarks, memories and traditions we are leaving behind. Here are 10 places where the British have left their mark on the Belgian capital.

1. Pitched battle 

On a sunny June evening in 1815, preparations were under way for the battle that would end the Napoleonic wars. It was a perfect moment, then, to squeeze in a game of cricket. English soldiers were to be found at their garrison knocking balls for six on a field that is now one of Brussels’ finest urban parks, the Bois de la Cambre. This cricket match, the first ever played in Belgium, was supposedly organised by Wellington as a show of typically British nonchalance in the face of the approaching French. Belgium now has its own cricket federation and national team, though it doesn’t yet have Test-playing status.

Bois de la Cambre: good for a game of cricket - Credit: ECHINOPHORIA
Bois de la Cambre: good for a game of cricket Credit: ECHINOPHORIA

2. Byron’s refuge 

Facing a broken marriage, accusations of incest and calls for his exile, Lord Byron finally abandoned England for Brussels in 1816, never to return. It’s rumoured that, on his arrival, Byron immediately stole a carriage and bedded his chambermaid. The plaque at No 51 Rue Ducale commemorates this trip. It was during his stay at Rue Ducale that Byron composed “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: Canto 3”. The stanzas were inspired by Waterloo, which Byron visited while in Belgium. Sir Walter Scott stayed in the same house when he was on a similar journey. His poem “The Field of Waterloo” was written there. 

Lord Byron - Credit: GETTY
Lord Byron Credit: GETTY

3. Educating Charlotte 

It was at the Pensionnat Heger, Rue d’Isabelle, where Charlotte Brontë met her tutor, Constantin Heger. She quickly became besotted with him and Heger was the inspiration for many of Charlotte’s male love interests, from Monsieur Paul Emanuel in Villette to Mr Rochester himself. The school was demolished in 1909, replaced by Brussels’ Palace of Fine Arts, but there is a memorial dedicated to the sisters and the Brussels Brontë Group (thebrusselsbrontegroup.org) organises talks and guided tours about the Brontë connection to Brussels. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts (fine-arts-museum.be/en) are open Tues-Sun, admission €8 (£7).

Charlotte Brontë - Credit: getty
Charlotte Brontë Credit: getty

4. Old England 

An impressive tower of swirling ironwork, the Old England department store was built in 1899 to showcase the new style sweeping Europe at the time. Founded by a British businessman, the former department store is one of the best places to appreciate Brussels’ art nouveau heritage. Now a museum, the building houses one of the world’s finest collections of musical instruments. Brussels’ Musical Instrument Museum (mim.be/en) is open Tues-Sun, admission €10. 

Now home to a museum of music - Credit: GETTY
Now home to a museum of music Credit: GETTY

5. Edith Cavell 

Cavell, a British nurse serving in Belgium during the First World War, became a heroine for saving countless lives of soldiers from both sides of the conflict. But when the Germans discovered that she had helped more than 200 Allied soldiers escape Belgium, Cavell was tried for treason. She was shot by firing squad at Schaerbeek on October 12 1915. Her grave is in her home town of Norwich, but her name can be found on a war memorial in Rue Colonel Bourg, Schaerbeek, Brussels.

6. Audrey Hepburn 

Wandering Brussels’ artsy Ixelles quarter, look out for the gold plaque at No 48 Rue Keyenveld. This is where, on May 4 1929, Audrey Hepburn, British screen legend, below, was born. The Ixelles council is arranging for the statue of the actress that currently stands in Tolochenaz, Switzerland, where she died, to be moved to her birthplace. 

Audrey Hepburn in Brussels - Credit: GETTY
Audrey Hepburn in Brussels Credit: GETTY

7. Auden’s Old Masters 

Once you have seen the plaque to the Brontës at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, head upstairs to the celebrated collection of Flemish paintings. It was Pieter Bruegel’s Fall of Icarus that inspired W H Auden’s great poem “Musée des Beaux Arts”, which he wrote after a visit to the museum in 1938: “About suffering they were never wrong, the Old Masters...” 

The painting that inspired W H Auden
The painting that inspired W H Auden

8. Hippies for British rock

It was the swinging Sixties, but the RTBF (Belgium’s francophone public broadcasting agency) still broadcast English music in translation, adapting it to traditional French tastes. Furious at the lack of true British rock in Belgium, a group of hippies organised a protest on Brussels’ Place Flagey outside the RTBF’s headquarters. Touring French singers found themselves being pelted with tomatoes by Belgians. Belgium went on to play a more proactive role in the history British rock: the Moody Blues began to write Days of Future Passed here, and the RTBF ended up giving Genesis their first television appearance.   

The Moody Blues - Credit: GETTY
The Moody Blues Credit: GETTY

9. Ink stains  

The 16th-century Palais d’Egmont is now the home of Belgium’s Foreign Ministry. It was inside the palace’s marble halls that in 1972 British prime minister Edward Heath was sprayed in the face with printer’s ink when signing the treaty marking the UK’s entry into the EEC. The gardens of the palace are now a public park, a tranquil spot hidden between two of the city’s most bustling shopping streets. At the centre of the Egmont Park you can find the palace’s former orangerie, now a stylish café, and a statue of Peter Pan, a gift from the children of Britain to the children of Belgium.   

10 reasons why Belgium is not as boring as you think
10 reasons why Belgium is not as boring as you think

10. Croquet

In 1994, strolling along the lawns by the Château du Lac at Genval, it occurred to Englishman John Swabey that this lakeside spot would provide the ideal grounds for the beloved game he’d left behind in his home country. And so the Brussels Croquet Club de Genval – Belgium’s first croquet club – was born in Avenue du Lac. Twenty-four years on, Belgium now hosts its own annual national championships. Non-members are welcome to have a go – details are on the website (centrepeg.org).