Hulluch

French commune
name= Hulluch
region=
departement=
arrondissement=
canton= Wingles
insee=62464
cp=62410
maire= André Kuchcinski
mandat=2008-2014
intercomm=Communaupole de Lens-Liévin
longitude=2.8175
latitude=50.4866666667
alt moy=76 m
alt mini=21 m
alt maxi=51 m
hectares=574
km²=5,74
sans=2989
date-sans=2006
dens=519|

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

Geography

An ex-coalmining town, now a farming commune, situated some convert|4|mi|km|1 north of Lens, at the junction of the D947 and the D39 roads.

History

The chapter of Lens mentions "Huluce" in 1070 in a charter of Eustache de Boulogne. St Vaast called it "Huluz" in 1098, by 1136 it was written "Hulut" and "Hullut" 1180. in 1202 "Huluch" and "Huluc". In 1303, "Hulus" on a seal affixed to a document and finally "Hulluch" from 1388, (confirmed again in 1429 by archives of Artois. It is pronounced "Ooloo", as the final "ch" is not pronounced.
The town already existed in the Gallo-Roman era. Some pottery from this period has been found while digging the basement of a house near the old Roman road.
Originally inhabited by the Morins, the enemy of Julius Caesar, it was occupied by the Franks well before the 10th century. The village was chosen as a Christian mission during the 4th and 5th centuries.
An early seigneur built a simple castle with a donjon and outbuildings surrounded by fences and ditches. Around the year 1300, it is surrounded by stone walls, battlements, towers and a drawbridge. This medieval castle was burned, along with the village, by the Flemish in 1303, then bombarded by the Spanish. The succession of battles and invasions led to its demise, unable to withstand the tests of time andwars. Rebuilt as a chateau by Baron de Bertoult, during the reign of Louis XIV, the chateau was richly decorated and surrounded by a beautiful park. Unfortunately, the chateau was blown up by the Germans at the outset of World War I, but afterwards replaced by a residential district, called "Clos du Chateau" to perpetuate the memory of the chateau.
Hulluch was on a part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coal seam and coalmining began here in 1902 and stopped in 1978. The slag heaps from mining are now used to produce building materials.
Hulluch has suffered two world wars and has few ancient monuments. One can find some old buildings representing the style of the region, with bricks and clay tiles and sloping roofs. There are some farms that escaped the destruction. Some bunkers remain in peoples’ gardens, remnants of World War I.

Population

Places of interest

* The church of St.Laurent, rebuilt, as was most of the village, after the First World War.
* The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.

See also

*Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

External links

* [http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=33800&mode=1 The CWGC ST.Mary's ADS cemetery] ]
* [http://www.agglo-lenslievin.fr The website of the Communaupole de Lens-Liévin] fr
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=detail&id=26954&req=Hulluch Hulluch on the Quid website] fr

Notes

*"This article is based on the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted on August 3rd 2008."