- Auchel
French commune
name= Auchel
region=
departement=
arrondissement=Béthune
canton= Auchel (chef-lieu )
insee=62048
cp=62260
maire=Richard Jarrett
mandat=2008 -2014
intercomm=Communauté d'agglomération de l'Artois
longitude=2.47444444444
latitude=50.5086111111
alt moy=99 m
alt mini=68 m
alt maxi=157 m
hectares=600
km²=6
sans=11 392
date-sans=1999
nomhab=Auchellois(e)s
dens=1898|Auchel is a commune and chief town of a canton in the
Pas-de-Calais "département" in theNord-Pas-de-Calais region ofFrance .Geography
An ex-mining town, nowadays a light industrial & farming commune, situated convert|8|mi|km|1 southwest of Béthune and convert|34|mi|km|1 southwest of
Lille , at the junction of the D183 and the D183E roads.History
Following the discovery of
coal deposits in the area in1851 , the town grew as the demand for coal increased in France. This old mining town had close to 15,000 inhabitants in the 1950s.
The coal recession in the late 1960s lead to a constant decline in population, despite the efforts of the municipality to attract and keep people here during and after the recession.Population
Places of interest
* The church of St.Martin, dating from the
16th century .
* A museum aboutcoal mining .Twinned with
*flagicon|ENG
West Malling , in the county ofKent ,England .
*flagicon|GERIserlohn , inNorth Rhine-Westphalia ,Germany .See also
Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department External links
* [http://www.agglo-artoiscomm.fr/ The Communauté d'agglomération de l'Artois regional website] fr
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=detail&id=26547&req=Auchel Auchel on the Quid website] frNotes
*"This article is based on the equivalent article from the
French Wikipedia , consulted on July 10th 2008."
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