Groeve Pitjesberg

Groeve Pitjesberg

Kerkstraat
Bilzen
The Pitjesberg is a special underground marl quarry partly located under the old village center of Zichen, municipality of Riemst. This system of corridors is a succession of different reclamations and 'pits'.

In recent centuries, dozens of underground marl quarries have been created in this village, many residents mined marl through a so-called shaft mining under his property.

The tunnel system was almost always made accessible by making a 'graet', a diagonal tunnel or staircase from quarry to ground level or cellar.

The often small corridor systems that are created in this way are called 'pits', later they often became contiguous. Excavation direction research can be used to determine from where a tunnel was reclaimed.

In this way it has been found that slightly more than half of this system of corridors consists of a series of pits. This area is concentrated under the houses and along the Kerkstraat.

The part below the meadows and gardens, up to Kerkstraat, has been reclaimed from two valley entrances.

An underground reclamation has been started here in a slope where the marl once came to the surface, this has led to a large network of corridors.
This text has been automatically translated using an online translation service.

Itineraries in the area