Sains-en-Gohelle is a commune in the

Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) 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 of France, with 890, and is the ...

department in the

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; ; ), also referred to in English as 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. ...

region of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Geography

Sains-en-Gohelle is an ex-

coalmining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. 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 extrac ...

town, nowadays a farming and light industrial commune, northwest of Lens, at the junction of the D937 and the D166 roads. The

A26 autoroute The A26 is a long France, French motorway connecting Calais and Troyes. It is also known as the Autoroute des Anglais (''Motorway of the English'') as its length forms the first part of the main route from the Dover-Calais ferries and the Channel ...

passes through the town.

Coal mining

Excavation of Mine 10 by the Compagnie des mines de Béthune started in July 1900 at Sains-en-Gohelle, and eventually reached . Shaft 10bis was started in July 1901 and reached . Production started in 1903. The mine closed in 1957 and was back-filled in 1972. Surface installations were destroyed in 1975.

Population

Places of interest

* The church of St.Vaast, dating from the twelfth century. * The modern church of Saint Marguerite.

References

External links