Survivances de l’ordre dispersé dans les fermes du Tournaisis

In the field of rural architecture, the western part of the Hainaut area constitutes a transition zone between Flanders and the Hesbaye region. The morphology of the Hainaut farm shows the influence of ancient traditions, particularly with regard to the open distribution pattern of the habitat, the practice of enclosing the farms and the features of the buildings (barns, cart-sheds, isolated dove-cots in the middle of the courtyard, etc.). The author pays particular attention to the position of the buldings (arranged in a U-pattern or forming a quadrilateral), the characteristic arrangement being that of the open pattern with buildings which are not directly connected to one another.