Harnes is a commune and chief town of a canton in the Pas-de-Calais département in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

Geography

An ex-coalmining and light industrial town situated some northeast of Lens, at the junction of the D162e and the D39. The Lens canal forms much of the souther border of the town and the A21 autoroute passes by a few yards from the canal.

History

First recorded as Hamas, the town was known as Harnis until, in the 12th century, when its present spelling was used. It’s possible that the name comes from the Flemish "Hearn" meaning “Marsh”.
The town was settled during the Gallo-Roman period, as archaeological finds have proved. In the municipal museum of Harnes, one can see the "treasure of Harnes": Coins, building materials, urns, vases, spears, iron objects and bones as well as some Samian ware (red glazed pottery) decorated with eagles, lions, sphinxes etc
In 1304, Harnes was looted burned by the Flemish. Under the Counts of Burgundy, from 1384 to 1482, civil and foreign wars were waged. Fighting, famine, plague and epidemics badly affected the people and prosperity of the region.
In 1438, Harnes was recorded with "31 fires (homes) and 109 inhabitants". The village was so poor that it was exempted from paying taxes.
In 1493, during the reign of Philip the Fair, the Austrians attacked France. They made camp at Harnes and then destroyed the castle.
In November 2, 1789, the National Assembly voted through the law of nationalization of all religious property. The people of Harnes were able to buy all the land that once belonged to the monastery, part of the abbey of St.Pierre at Ghent.

Eco water treatment system

In the old riverbed of the Deûle/Souchez river (long-since drained by the creation of the Lens canal) and on the former mining area, the local authorities have created a landscape whose objective is to supplement the wastewater treatment leaving the sewage treatment plant at Fouquières by biological methods to eliminate pathogens and phosphorus. Five successive treatments are employed, involving filtration by coppiced willow, tanks planted with reeds, iris, bulrushes etc, oxygenation and exposure to sunlight. The energy needed for pumping the water provided by four wind turbines. It takes about one month for the impure water to pass through the cleaning course, before joining the Lens canal. This project, which took five years to build (1999-2004) was awarded the “Rosa Barba” at the fourth biennial European landscape congress in Barcelona. .

Population

Population Evolution

1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2004
14619	14622	13845	13996	14309	13700	13797
Census count starting from 1962 : Population without double counting

Places of interest

• The mining museum.
• The archaeology and history museum.
• Florimond woods.
• The “Pont Maudit”, a bridge dating from the 18th century.
• The church of St.Martin, dating from the 20th century.
• The war memorial.

Twin towns

• Loanhead, Midlothian, Scotland
• Chrzanów, Poland
• Falkenstein, Germany
• Kabouda, Burkina Faso
• Putignano, Italy
• Vendres, Hérault, France

See also

• Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

External links

• Official town website
• Website of the Communaupole de Lens-Liévin
• Harnes on the Quid website

Notes

• This article is based on the Harnes from the French Wikipedia, consulted on August 3rd 2008.