 In cities such as Cambrai, Valenciennes, and Liege, local officials established formal communities for these women that became known as beguinages.Beguinages tended to be located near or within town centers and were often close to the rivers that provided water for their work in the cloth industry.While some women joined communities of like-minded lay religious women, adopting the label "Beguine" by virtue of entering a beguinage, many women lived alone or with one or two other like-minded women.