Landscapes shaped by mining
The communes with a mining past are proud of their industrial heritage, marking the landscape with pitheads and mine buildings, miners’ cottages, slag heaps, etc.
The little brick houses sit all in a row, with the silhouettes of slag heaps in the background amid long stretches of black earth bearing witness to former mining activities. Here, the forest meets the mine, as if in recognition of this major activity, whose past is not so distant. You will discover fine pitheads in Condé-sur-l’Escaut (Ledoux pit), Fresnes-sur-Escaut (Sarteau pit), Raismes (Sabatier pit), Wallers (Arenberg pit) and in Anhiers.
Whether flat as in Rieulay, or cone-shaped as in Raismes and Pecquencourt, slag heaps are today sinking back into the landscape and being recolonised by dense vegetation. At their foot, subsidence ponds have formed, where sailing and canoeing can today be enjoyed.
In the 1980s, scientists took a great interest in these slag heaps, and discovered characteristic flora there. The biological interest of this plant recolonisation is huge and provides biological observations of great scientific value.
