Office de Tourisme Cassel Horizons

In the southern side of Mount Cassel and Mount des Récollets, the village of Sainte Marie Cappel is called like that because the saint patron of its church is the Virgin.

The shrine was rebuilt in 1875 in Gothic style: the robust tower in brick is the last relic from the building of the 17^th century. The modern stained glass windows show the numerous Madonna, venerated in France.

On the road to Oxelaere, the big chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame des Champs was built in the 19^th century. Its front is made up of sandstone and stones which form patterns.

On the secondary road, the locality Au Petit Bruxelles reminds that Pays de Cassel belonged to southern Netherlands whose capital was Brussels until 1678.

The source of the Peene Becque is in Sainte Marie Cappel. It collects the water which goes down the southern side of Mount Cassel. This river, which flows into Yser in Wormhout, is longer than Yser itself. So the real name of Yser should have been Peene downstream.

An inhabitant of Sainte Marie Cappel, father Jean Louis Verstock, from the monastery of the Récollets of Cassel was one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution: he was decapitated in Arras in 1794.

To get more information about the history of this village, you can upload audio guides on the homepage of our website.