0 Havré - Corons de la Chaussée du Rœulx (1)

In urbanism, a coron is a historical type of working-class housing found in parts of Northern France and Belgium. Emerging during the Industrial Revolution, corons were a form of low-cost dwelling commonly found in

coal mining 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 from ...

and steelmaking regions of Wallonia and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Originating as a form of vernacular architecture, their design and materials were increasingly upgraded over time and some were even constructed as parts of purpose-built

model village A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally phys ...

s. They can be considered a counterpart of the back-to-back housing found in industrial parts of the United Kingdom. Over a hundred coron sites are listed as World Heritage Sites in Northern France selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO).

Origins and etymology

The term originates from the Walloon language 'coron' (itself from Latin 'cornus' meaning 'corner') denoting the edge or corner of a street and, by extrapolation, a working-class district. The emergence of the corons was instigated in the nineteenth century in metropolitan France’s Northern

Departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

now constituting the

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...

region (French pronunciation: d(ə) fʁɑ̃s translating to "Upper France" in English; Picard: ''Heuts-d'Franche''), following the territorial reform of French Regions (2014) from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hi ...

. The activity was ubiquitous in the towns of the former

Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin The Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin is a mining basin in Northern France that stretches across the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments. The region is famous for its long history of coal extraction and its testimony to a significant period in the ...

including Lewarde and the sites.

Description

Different types of corons coexisted. Some represented real advances for the time in terms of protecting inhabitants from

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

outbreaks. Today, successive renovations make corons sought after. File:Les corons - Steve.© - (6824798766).jpg File:Billy-Montigny - Les corons Tourtois.jpg File:Somain - Corons De Sessevalle.jpg File:Auchel - Vue de Corons.jpg File:Estrée-blanche corons.jpg File:Noyelle-sous-Lens - Mines de Courrières, Fosse n° 3, Corons de Méricourt.jpg File:Somain - Corons De Sessevalle sur la Route de Rieulay.jpg

Popular culture

*" Les Corons" is a famous

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

song by Pierre Bachelet written by Jean-Pierre Lang and composed by Bachelet himself. It became the regional hymn for the Northern

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

s of France by describing their pride and struggles while integrating folklore. The supporters of the football club RC Lens chant it before a match. * Émile Zola's 1885 novel '' Germinal'' is set against the detailed description of the living and working conditions of a poor mining community in northern France.

References

{{reflist Architecture in France Architecture in Belgium House types