De Hoge Mote

There was probably a motte here from the 10th century, part of a fortification belt. In the 17th century it was a square enclosed area with a house to the north and a gatehouse to the south.

The house would have been purchased around 1400 by the Sint-Hermeskapitte in Ronse. During the ancien régime it was almost always occupied by canons. In 1669 it was rebuilt and occupied by the provost of the chapter. In the French era the chapter was dissolved and also the Hoge Mote was publicly sold in 1794 and came into private hands. Notables came to live in it. In 1866 it came to J. Cambier-Robette, who was a textile manufacturer. In the same year he had the eastern residential wing built. In the surrounding area (the current Bruulpark), he put a machine weaving mill into operation. The west wing of the building was also set up as a factory (1905, 1913, 1926).

According to the design of L. de Wilde the house was rebuilt after 1942. In 1963 this was stopped and in 1964 the house came to the city of Ronse and was used for the State Archives. The west wing housed the Must Museum for textiles in 1984, and the Spaniards’ Castle housed the Folklore Museum. On the Hoge Mote, a new tourist information office and reception and experience center for Ronse (art deco, St. Hermes and Fiertel, textile past) with observation tower was set up in 2018.

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