A farmer in Hainaut province moved the stone marker indicating the border between Belgium and France, making Belgium a couple of metres bigger. It appears that the pillar, in place for 200 years, was interfering with the farmer’s harvest.
It is unclear when the farmer in Erquelinnes, southwest of Charleroi, moved the marker (pictured), but it was recently spotted by three history buffs walking along the border. Technically the farmer has violated the Treaty of Kortrijk with the move.
Signed in 1820, the treaty officially set the border between France and what was then the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The original stone pillars are still in place, marking the border between France, Belgium and Luxembourg today.
The amateur historians noted that the marker in the Féfu forest, which straddles the border between France and Belgium, had been moved about two metres into France – just outside the fencing around the farmer’s field.
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