Loos-en-Gohelle is a commune in the

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

department in the

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

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 ar ...

Geography

A former

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 ...

town, three miles northwest of the centre of Lens, at the junction of the D943 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 ...

. Its nearest neighbours are

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'' ...

to the south, Grenay to the west, Hulluch to the northeast and Bénifontaine to the east. The two largest (184 m & 182 m) spoil heaps in Europe are found here. Terril 62Loos

History

The place was first documented in 1071, as "Lohes". The name has changed considerably over the years: Lothae, Lo, Lohes, Loes, Loez and Loos.