Han-sur-Lesse (in French pronounced as /ɑ̃syʁˈlɛs/; Walloon: Han-so-Lesse) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Rochefort, located in the province of Namur, Belgium. Han-sur-Lesse was called Ham from 1139, Ham Han Sur Lesche, from 1266, Han Sur Lece from 1465 and Ham sur lez from 1528,[1] by which time it had 14 families. The village then declined, with plague, epidemics and Franco-Spanish wars, but by 1766, there were 62 villagers.[2] In 2021 the population was about 1,000.[3] The place is famous for the Grottes de Han-sur-Lesse, a cave complex carved under a hill by the river Lesse, which tourists reach via a preserved remnant of the country's vicinal tramway system. The metre gauge line opened in 1906[4] as a branch off the Rochefort-Han-sur-Lesse-Wellin line,[5] which was open from 1904 to 1957. Between 1988[6] and 1992 the village tram terminus was moved from a loop around the church of Saint-Hubert de Han-sur-Lesse to a loop on the other side of Rue Joseph Lamotte.[7]
The church of Saint-Hubert, in the centre of the village, was rebuilt in 1905 in a Gothic revival style by Clément Léonard and Hubert Froment.[8]