GB

WATTEN is, with its "mountain" of 72 meters above the sea level, the last part of the "Monts des Flandres".
With a rich past, our town has kept the time traces. First came the roman people, when the sea was covering a wide part of the region ; then the "Frans" and the "Normands" who wiped out the town in 881.
Watten, saved thanks to the monastic presence, has been choosen by a foreign priest to be a monastery location. Full of History, the ABBEY'S TOWER still can be visited today.
During centuries, the town had been torn between differents sovereign, and became definitively French in 1678.
The XXth century has been the time of florishing industry thanks to Watten's position, at the crossroad of communications.
The WINDMILL, near the Abbey's tower at the top of the mountain, was built in the XVIIIth century. It stopped working in 1930 and was used as an observation point by the german army in the forty's. Completely refurbished, it belongs to the commune and is now opened to the public who can tast the flour of "Watten's mountain Windmill".
Built in 1236, the tower of SAINT GILLES'CHURCH is a real pleasure for the eyes. You will find inside some of the Abbey's furniture.
Walking along the Aa canal, you will reach the lock still working with barges, unless you choose to go for a walk along the hiking route "GR 128" across mounts, contryside and woods.