commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Pas-de-Calais
Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) 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 ...
Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...
region in northern France.
Geography
An ex-mining town, nowadays a light industrial & farming commune, situated southwest of Béthune and southwest of
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
, at the junction of the D183 and the D183E roads.
History
Following the discovery of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
deposits in the area in 1851, 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
The inhabitants are called ''Auchellois''.
Sights
* The church of St. Martin, dating from the sixteenth century.
* A museum about
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. 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 extraction of iron from ...
.
International relations
Auchel is twinned with:
*
West Malling
West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590.
Landmarks
West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norma ...
, in the county of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England.
*
Iserlohn
Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region.
Geography
Iserlohn is locat ...
, in
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
, Germany.
Notable people
Auchel is the birthplace of:
*
Xavier Beauvois
Xavier Beauvois (; born 20 March 1967) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter.
Career
His film ''Don't Forget You're Going to Die'' was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize.
His film '' Of Gods an ...
, actor, director and screenwriter.
*
Angela Behelle
Angela Behelle (born October 5, 1971, in Auchel) is a French romance novel writer.
Biography
Angela Behelle was born on October 5, 1971, in Auchel. She spent part of her childhood in Pas-de-Calais and studied law at the University of Lille. ...
, writer
*
Pierre Laigle
Pierre Laigle (born 9 September 1970 in Auchel, France) is a French former professional footballer. He played as a midfielder.
Laigle played for a number of Ligue 1 teams throughout his career, before retiring at the end of the 2006-07 season. ...
, football player
*
Augustin Lesage
Augustin Lesage (August 9, 1876 – February 21, 1954) was a French coal miner who became a painter and artist through the help of what he considered to be spirit voices. His style utilizes patterns and symmetry on a large scale, often accompanied ...
, French spiritualist artist. Lesage is one of the most fascinating figures associated with Art Brut
*
Stéphane Lecocq
Stéphane Lecocq (born October 22, 1976 in Auchel) is a French professional football player. Currently, he plays in the Championnat de France amateur for USL Dunkerque.
He played on the professional level in Ligue 2 for Amiens SC.
See also ...
, professional footballer
*
Fred Personne
Fred may refer to:
People
* Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
Mononym
* Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French
* Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Ro ...
, actor
*
Afida Turner
Afida Turner (born Hafidda Messaï on December 22, 1976) is a French media personality. In 2007, she married musician Ronnie Turner. In 2011, she released the singles ''Come With Me'', followed by ''Born an Angel'', from her studio album ''Paris ...
, singer, songwriter, actress, and media personality