Bully-les-Mines () is a commune 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 ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It forms part of the Lens-Liévin agglomeration community, which encompasses 36 French communes and 250,000 inhabitants. For many years it was a major

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 ...

center.

History

The name of Bully-les-Mines has frequently had various forms over the centuries : from ''Bulgi'' (in 1135), to ''Bugi'' (1152), ''Builli'' (1157), ''Bullia'' (1198), ''Bully'' (1270), ''Boulli'' (1303), ''Buylly'' (1410), ''Builly-lez-Aix'' (1486), ''Builly-lez-Grenay'' (1511), ''Builly-en-Gohelle'' (1569), ''Bully-en-Gohelle'' (1709), ''Bully-Grenay'' (1750), ''Bully-en-Gohelle'' (1782), and finally ''Bully-les-Mines'' in 1925. According to many sources, the name has

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium ...

origins. Ricouart proposes that "Bullire" derives from the French "bouillonner," a reference to the source of the river

Surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

in a neighboring commune. The current use of "les mines" indicates the importance of mining to the commune and the region. The train station has maintained the older name of Bully- Grenay, leading to occasional confusion among travelers. Although the region has been inhabited from prehistory onward, no evidence of prehistoric settlements has yet been found at Bully. The oldest relic so far discovered in the commune is a Celtic bracelet; Bully once belonged to the "Pagus Silvinus" region of the Atrébates. Gallo-Roman discoveries have been numerous within the commune. During the sixth century, Bully came under the spiritual leadership of the

bishop of Cambrai-Arras The Archdiocese of Cambrai ( la, Archdiocesis Cameracensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Cambrai'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-Hel ...

. As an integral part of Artois, Bully fell under the domination of the Counts of Flanders from 862 to 1191 before passing with the rest of the region to French control. Governed directly by the French Crown from 1191 to 1237, the town and region remained part of France until 1384, when they submitted to the rule of

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

. A brief return to French control between 1477 and 1492 ended in an absorption into

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

territory, which lasted until the region returned definitively to France with the 1659

Treaty of the Pyrenees The Treaty of the Pyrenees (french: Traité des Pyrénées; es, Tratado de los Pirineos; ca, Tractat dels Pirineus) was signed on 7 November 1659 on Pheasant Island, and ended the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635. Negotiations were ...

Misfortunes of Bully

Bully's close proximity to three military strongholds -

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

, Béthune, and Lens - often situated it in the path of war. In 1213 the village was raided; in 1303 it was destroyed completely, even its trees cut down. In 1348 a third of the population fell to the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

, which returned four times in the next century, alternating with

famines A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

and

wars War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. In 1537 Bully was sacked by the troops of Louis XII, and similar misfortunes continued until the French took Lens in 1556-1557. By this time Bully was so destitute that the victorious French proved unable to levy a tax on its inhabitants. In 1648, the village billeted troops involved in the

Battle of Lens The Battle of Lens (20 August 1648) was a French victory under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé against the Spanish army under Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). It was the last major battle of the war and ...

. From 1709 to 1712, Bully was buffeted by the advances and retreats of armies fighting in the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, a situation aggravated by an epidemic that killed 24 villagers. In 1796, a fire destroyed half the village, an event commemorated by the present-day "Chemin brûlé."

Coal mining

In 1852 the first site explored by the

Compagnie des mines de Béthune The Compagnie des mines de Béthune, sometimes called the sometimes called the Compagnie de Grenay after the name of the concession, was a French coal mining company in the Pas-de-Calais that was established in 1851 and nationalized in 1946. The co ...

was near the village of Bully. The land was poorly wooded, so the company had to bring timber and workers from

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department and in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, regio ...

. On 17 February 1852 the drill hole reached coal at . Sinking of Mine 1 at Bully began on 26 March 1852, and the mine came into operation in 1853. In 1853 7,000 tons of coal were extracted. This rose to 21,000 tons the next year. Excavation of Mine 2, with a diameter of , was started on 20 November 1855 at Bully-les-Mines, and reached coal at . The shaft passed through an underground aquifer, for which a pumping machine was needed. Extraction started in February 1859 in a very rugged deposit. In December 1859 a decree allowed the company to build a railway from Bully to Violaines. Decrees of 29 August 1863 and 8 March 1865 authorized the Mines de Béthune to extend their railway network to Béthune and

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 ...

. A limited company named the Compagnie du Chemin de fer de Lille à Béthune et à Bully-Grenay was formed on 11 May 1865 to operate the railway. In 1865 a more modern engine was installed in Mine 1 with two horizontal cylinders. In 1868 the Davaine ventilator in Mine 2 was no longer adequate and had to be replaced. By 1880 Mine 2 had produced 720,000 tons in total and was deep. In November 1869 eighteen workers were asphyxiated by fumes from a fire. Mine 1 was completely renovated in 1876, with a new engine installed. By 1880 Mine 1 had produced a total of 1,280,000 tons of coal, and had reached a depth of . Shaft 1bis was added in 1889 and Shaft 1ter in 1911. The Étoile Sportive de Bully was founded in 1920 by the Company with a sports complex considered the most modern in France. There were five football pitches, one with stands for several hundred spectators, dressing rooms with showers, individual lockers for players. Members could also practice gymnastics, boxing and athletics. Mine 1 was closed in 1961, backfilled in 1971 and the headframes destroyed in 1973. Mine 2 was closed in 1968, backfilled in 1970 and the headframe destroyed in 1974.

Population

Administration

Michel Vancaille, former vice-president of the Conseil Général of the Pas-de-Calais, served as mayor of Bully-les-Mines from 1989 to 2002, when he was replaced by fellow

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

François Lemaire.

Sights

The bell tower of the Church of Saint-Maclou is inscribed in the French registry of historic sites and monuments.

Personalities

* David Faupala,

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

André Strappe André Strappe (23 February 1928 – 9 February 2006) was a French professional footballer who played as a forward, and later served as a manager. Club career Strappe was a player for Lille, Le Havre, and Nantes, and then a player-manager f ...

Jean-Marie Vanlerenberghe Jean-Marie Vanlerenberghe (born 29 March 1939 ) is a French politician of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) who has been serving as a member of the Senate since 2001. Early life and career Vanlerenberghe was born in Bully-les-Mines, Pas-de-Calais. ...

, mayor of

and

MoDem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...

Senator for the