Ambresin / Ambsin / Anm'zin / Embresin

A communication to BSI from Pol herman (e-mail of 20 November 2025) narrates the story of two villages, Ambresin and Ambrésinaux, with a chapel each, only 800 metres apart, that merged: "Some say that the tribe of the Ambivariti lived in this area at the time of Julius Caesar.
The earliest mention of the village dates from August 20, 1194 in a charter of Henry I, Duke of Brabant, which sealed a peace treaty between him and Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut and Flanders. In 1230, Guillaume d’Atrive renounces his rights on the church of Ambresin. The village must have had some strategic importance, because during the Middle Ages there stood a fortified defensive tower that is frequently mentioned in charters : “la tour d’Ambresin”. Nothing seems to be known about this church. The Ferraris map of 1777 still shows a chapel at Ambresin, but it cannot be seen on younger maps. At an unknown time the inhabitants of Ambresin started to attend mass at nearby Ambrésinaux. The church of Ambrésinaux (present church Sint-Martinuskerk in Ambresin / Eglise Saint-Martin à Ambresin), is now known as “the church of Ambresin”. No trace remains of the old church or its font."