I read an unusual story on the Internet, and at first thought that it was not true. When I searched Google for verification, I found it to be documented, and perhaps true. Maybe some of you have heard the story before, but here it is.
In May of 2021, a Belgian farmer moved a large stone marking the France-Belgium border in his field. Doing so inadvertently shifted the Belgian border about 8 feet into France and making Belgium slightly larger. The incident was discovered by local historians, and the farmer was required to return the stone, or risk a diplomatic incident and potentially criminal charges. The border stone had been set in 1819.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
Interesting story but how would historians know that a marker had been moved? Was there a recorded survey that they retraced or witness statements with reference points?
The story explains that the historians were local and were perambulating the boudary between two border towns. They suspected this particular stone was not in the same spot as at the time when they were last at that location. There is also mention of 'beating the bounds' as an explanation for their deduction. And although there was a survey to establish the location in 1820, I could not find any information on how or if it had been returned to it's original spot.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
Some additional information found indicates that surveyors were 'expected' to fix the location.
Most of the stories indicate that the mayors of the two towns found the incident to be 'humorous' which is a strange reaction.
Also, I misspelled boundary in a previous post.
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.