Harnes
Encyclopedia
Harnes is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Geography

Harnes is an ex-coalmining and light industrial town situated some 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Lens
Lens, Pas-de-Calais
Lens is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is one of France's large Picarde cities along with Lille, Valenciennes, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Arras, and Douai.-Metropolitan area:...

, 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
A21 autoroute
The A21 autoroute is a toll free highway in north western France it is also known as the Rocade Minière.-Completed:*01 D301 Start of autoroute Towns at junction with D937 Towns served: Barlin...

 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 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 (red glazed pottery) decorated with eagles, lions, sphinxes etc.

In 1304, Harnes was looted burned by the Flemish
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...

. Under the Counts of Burgundy, 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
Philip I of Castile
Philip I , known as Philip the Handsome or the Fair, was the first Habsburg King of Castile...

, the Austrians attacked France. They made camp at Harnes and then destroyed the castle.

On November 2, 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
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...

.

Eco water treatment system

In the old riverbed of the Deûle
Deûle
The Deûle is a river of northern France which is currently channeled for the main part of its course . The upstream part is still partly free-flowing and is known as the Souchez...

/Souchez
Souchez
Souchez is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Souchez lies north of Arras, at the junction of the D937, D57 and D58 roads. The small river Souchez, a tributary of the Deûle, flows through the town.-Population:-Places of interest:* The...

 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
Sewage
Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...

 treatment plant at Fouquières
Fouquières-lès-Lens
Fouquières-lès-Lens is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:An ex-coalmining town situated some east of Lens, at the junction of the D46 and the A21 autoroute.-Population:-Places of interest:...

 by biological methods to eliminate pathogens and phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...

s.
Five successive treatments are employed, involving filtration by coppiced willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

, tanks planted with reeds
Phragmites
Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...

, iris
Iris (plant)
Iris is a genus of 260-300species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species...

, bulrush
Schoenoplectus
Schoenoplectus is a genus of about 80 species of sedges with a cosmopolitan distribution. Note that the name bulrush is also applied to species in the unrelated genus Typha...

 etc., oxygenation and exposure to sunlight. The energy needed for pumping the water provided by four wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...

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
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

.
.

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

Loanhead
Loanhead
Loanhead is a small town in Midlothian, Scotland, to the south of Edinburgh, and close to Roslin, Bonnyrigg and Dalkeith. The town was built on coal and shale mining, and the paper industry.-History:...

, UK Chrzanów
Chrzanów
Chrzanów is a town in south Poland with 39,704 inhabitants . It is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship and is the capital of Chrzanów County.- To 1809:...

, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 Falkenstein
Falkenstein
Falkenstein or Falckenstein is the name of several places and castles in Central Europe as well as a surname:- Places in Germany and Austria :* Falkenstein, Bavaria, district Cham...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Kabouda
Kabouda
Kabouda is a town in the Méguet Department of Ganzourgou Province in central Burkina Faso. The town has a population of 1,498.-External links:*...

, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...

 Putignano
Putignano
Putignano is a town and comune in the province of Bari, Puglia, Italy.-Economy:In the past the economy of the city was principally based on agriculture, but soon the population converted the rural village into an industrial center...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Vendres
Vendres
Vendres is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon southern France....

, France

External links




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