Calonne-Ricouart

French commune
name= Calonne-Ricouart
region=
departement=
arrondissement=Béthune
canton= Divion
insee=62194
cp=62470
maire=André Delcourt
mandat= 2008-2014
intercomm=Communauté d'agglomération de l'Artois
longitude=2.48444444444
latitude=50.4875
alt moy=65 m
alt mini=41 m
alt maxi=114 m
hectares=461
km²=4,61
sans=5989
date-sans=1999
dens=1299|

Calonne-Ricouart is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais "département" in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

Geography

An ex-coalmining town some convert|6|mi|km|1 southwest of Béthune and convert|33|mi|km|1 southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D70 and the D341 roads, by the banks of the Clarence River.

History

The village and the old castle were burned down in 1537 by the troops of Francis I.
The church of St.Pierre was rebuilt between the years 1763 to 1781.
In 1786, a new chateau was built at the present location of the cemetery. Around the same time, through the initiative of Bernard Calonne, the watermill was built on the north bank of the river Clarence. It was sold during the Revolution and ceased functioning as a working mill in 1945. Nowadays, only a small part of the original building still exists.
The spoil heaps from the years of mining coal are now disappearing, as they contain material which can be used in road building.To the east of the town, were once the pit heads stood, is Park Calonnix, which covers 35 hectares of land including 15 hectares of forest and 5 hectares of ponds. Various sports and leisure activities are available (tennis, squash, horseriding, a climbing wall, pedal boats, freshwater and trout fishing, an inflatable playground and an animal park. Also located on the site, in the former coal mining explosives store, is a bat sanctuary.

Population

Places of interest

* The church of St.Pierre, dating from the 18th century.
* The modern church of St.Paul.
* An old farm and a watermill.

People with links to the commune

* Maryan Wisnieski, French international football player.

See also

Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

External links

* [http://www.calonne-ricouart.fr Official website of the commune] fr
* [http://www.echo62.com/articlearch.asp?num_journal=56&num_art=976 The leisure park] fr
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=detail&id=26692&req=Calonne-Ricouart Calonne-Ricouart on the Quid website] fr

Notes

*"This article is based on the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted on July 12th 2008."