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Chastre [ʃastʁ]  (Walloon: Tchåsse) is a French-speaking municipality in Belgium that is located in the Walloon region, in the province of Walloon Brabant.

Its name comes from the Gallo-roman word castra "fortress, fortified cam", that comes from the Latin word castra which is the plural form of castrum meaning "entrenchment, fortified place".

Chastre is a rural and at the same time residential municipality, populated with 7,684 inhabitants. Chastre comprises seven former villages: Chastre, Villeroux, Blanmont, Cortil-Noirmont, Gentinnes and Saint-Géry. It is crossed by the old Chaussée Brunehaut, a Roman way that connected Bavai, France to Cologne.

Located between Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve and Gembloux, 40 km far from Brussels, Chastre is well served by the road and railroad networks. A small river called the Orne passes right through Chastre. With its tributaries, the Orne creates landscapes that enchant the gaze, surrounding for instance magnificent farmhouses, often still fully in use. Chastre culminates at 165 metres and its sister cities are Lespignan, Hérault department, France since 1998 and Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Canada.

Cortil
In the beginning of the 9th century, half of Cortil (Curtils) was owned by Saint Guibert (Wichpertus). He donated it to the abbey of Gembloux, which he had just founded in 936. The donation was made official in a charter of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor in 946.

History
Chastre was a municipality of the Dyle department under the French regime.

Heraldy
Chastre received its coat of arms on 4 July 1978. It is the coat of arms of the former municipality of Chastre-Villeroux-Blanmont, which received it on 22 April 1969, of the Kessel family (diamonds), the last lords of Blanmont and also of the Onyn family, last lords of Chastre.

Location
Along the N4 road, approximately halfway between Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve and Gembloux, Chastre is also reachable by train (SNCB line 161, stops on Blamont and Chastre), and by the TEC buses (depot). Chastre is surrounded by the municipalities of Walhain-Saint-Paul, Gembloux, Mont-Saint-Guibert, Sombreffe and Villers-la-Ville.

Hydrography
Chastre is furrowed by two charming small rivers: the Orne and the Houssière. The former rises in Bertinchamps (Gembloux, province of Namur), and waters the villages of Cortil, Noirmont, Chastre  and Blanmont before gliding in Mont-Saint-Guibert and eventually emptying in the Dyle via the Thyle, in Court-Saint-Étienne. The latter rises in Sombreffe, near Gentinnes that it crosses, then crosses Villeroux and eventually empties in the Orne in Mont-Saint-Guibert. It cannot be said that these two small rivers have nicked this part of the Brabant high plateau, which is located between 145 and 155 metres.

Natural environment
Despite being very green, the natural environment of Chastre is quite poor. The essentially rural vocation has changed with the population’s growth and diversification. The number of agricultural enterprises is continuously decreasing. Due to its location between Brussels and Namur and to the high road and railroad connections, Chastre’s countryside has had to face a strong urbanisation for more than 30 years.

Demography
On 1 November 2019, Chastre was populated with 7,684 inhabitants (3,805 men and 3,879 women), which makes a population density of 245.73 inhabitants per square km for a surface of 31.27 square km.

Folklore
Chastre holds a fete every fourth weekend of September.

Sister cities
Chastre has two sister cities:

• Lespignan (France)

• Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu (Quebec)