Harnes () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Geography

Harnes is an ex-

coalmining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

and light industrial town situated some northeast of

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements ...

, at the junction of the D162e and the D39. The Lens canal forms much of the southern border of the town and the

A21 autoroute The A21 autoroute is a toll free highway in north western France it is also known as the ''Rocade Minière''. It is long. Junctions Completed In construction Upgrade of N455 between Flers-en-Escrebieux and Pecquencourt which is the northe ...

passes by a few yards from the canal.

History

First recorded as Hamas, the town was known as Harnis until, in the 12th century, when its present spelling was used. It’s possible that the name comes from the Flemish "Hearn" meaning “Marsh”. The town was settled during the

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

period, as archaeological finds have proved. In the municipal museum of Harnes, one can see the "treasure of Harnes": Coins, building materials, urns, vases, spears, iron objects and bones as well as some

Samian ware Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red Ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas of t ...

(red glazed pottery) decorated with eagles, lions, sphinxes etc. In 1304, Harnes was looted and burned by the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

. Under the

Counts of Burgundy This is a list of the counts of Burgundy, i.e., of the region known as Franche-Comté, not to be confused with the Duchy of Burgundy, from 982 to 1678. House of Ivrea (982–1190) House of Hohenstaufen (1190–1231) House of Andechs (1 ...

, from 1384 to 1482, civil and foreign wars were waged. Fighting, famine, plague and epidemics badly affected the people and prosperity of the region. In 1438, Harnes was recorded with "31 fires (homes) and 109 inhabitants". The village was so poor that it was exempted from paying taxes. In 1493, during the reign of Philip the Fair, the Austrians attacked France. They made camp at Harnes and then destroyed the castle. On 2 November 1789 the National Assembly voted through the law of nationalization of all religious property. The people of Harnes were able to buy all the land that once belonged to the monastery, part of the abbey of St. Pierre at

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

Population

Eco water treatment system

In the old riverbed of the

Deûle The Deûle (; nl, Deule) is a river of northern France which is channeled for the main part of its course (from Lens to Lille). The upstream part is still partly free-flowing and is known as the Souchez. The Deûle flows into the Lys (right ban ...

Souchez Souchez () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. It is located northwest of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial dedicated to the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the missing First World War Canadian sol ...

river (long-since drained by the creation of the Lens canal) and on the former mining area, the local authorities have created a landscape whose objective is to supplement the wastewater treatment leaving the sewage treatment plant at Fouquières by biological methods to eliminate pathogens and

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

s. Five successive treatments are employed, involving filtration by

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

, tanks planted with reeds,

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

bulrush Bulrush is a vernacular name for several large wetland grass-like plants *Sedge family (Cyperaceae): **''Cyperus'' **'' Scirpus'' **''Blysmus'' **''Bolboschoenus'' **'' Scirpoides'' **'' Isolepis'' **'' Schoenoplectus'' **'' Trichophorum'' * T ...

etc., oxygenation and exposure to sunlight. The energy needed for pumping the water provided by four

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...

s. It takes about one month for the impure water to pass through the cleaning course, before joining the Lens canal. This project, which took five years to build (1999–2004), was awarded the “Rosa Barba” at the fourth biennial European landscape congress in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. .

Main sights

* The mining museum * The archaeology and history museum * Florimond woods * The “Pont Maudit”, a bridge dating from the 18th century * The church of St.Martin, dating from the 20th century * The war memorial

Twin towns - sister cities

Loanhead Loanhead is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, in a commuter belt to the south of Edinburgh, and close to Roslin, Bonnyrigg and Dalkeith. The town was built on coal and oil shale mining, and the paper industries. History Loanhead was a tiny vil ...

, Scotland, United Kingdom *

Chrzanów Chrzanów () is a town in southern Poland with 35,651 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999) and is the seat of Chrzanów County. History History to 1809 It is impossible to establish ...

, Poland * Falkenstein, Germany * Kabouda, Burkina Faso *

Vendres Vendres (; Languedocien: ''Vèndres'') is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Population Sights The French Ministry of Culture lists three sites with protection as a ''monument historique''. * The ...

, France

References

External links

Official website

Website of the Communaupole de Lens-Liévin

{{Authority control Communes of Pas-de-Calais Artois