Chevalement du Vieux II

Chevalement et musée du Vieux Deux de Marles-les-Mines - Musee de la mine

Useful Information

photography — Chevalement du Vieux II, France. Public Domain.

Location:	12 Rés la Peupleraie, 62540 Marles-les-Mines. (50.5035859, 2.5067793)
Open:	JUN to SEP Wed, Sat, Sun 14:30-17:30. OCT to MAY 1st Sun 14:30-17:30. Closed NOV. [2023]
Fee:	free. [2023]
Classification:	Mining Museum Cobalt Mine
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	H=19.7 m.
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Chevalement du Vieux II, 12 Rés la Peupleraie, 62540 Marles-les-Mines, Tel: +33-391-80-07-10, Tel: +33-321-62-50-72. Marles-les-Mines Town Hall, Marie-Laure Bonniez, 62540 Marles-les-Mines, Tel: +33-391-80-07-10. E-mail: Béthune-Bruay Tourist Office, 3 Rue Aristide Briand, 62400 Béthune, Tel: +33-321-52-50-00.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1853	first sinking of a shaft at Marles is not successful.
1921	headframe built.
1946	collieries nationalized.
1973	collieries closed.
29-MAR-1974	shaft finally closed.
1979	headframe and its machine bought by the municipality.
1989	headframe renovated.
09-JUN-1991	headframe inaugurated as a mining museum.
06-MAY-1992	registered in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments.
2012	inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Geology

Marles-les-Mines lies at the northwestern end of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coalfield.

Description

Chevalement du Vieux II (Vieux II Headframe) is one of the 21 headframes in the Nord-Pas de Calais mining basin which are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. But it is the only headframe in the Béthune-Bruay region which still exists. It was built from riveted lattice girders in 1921, and there is the machine room, which houses the extraction machine, built by Leflaive et Compagnie in Saint-Étienne. This machine is older, it was built in 1920 for the Boulonnais mines, but then relocated here. The furling winch system for flat metal cables was powered by a 430-horsepower Westinghouse electric motor. The shaft is one of three shafts with the number 2, so they were actually called fosse n°2 (rue Albraque), fosse n°2bis, and fosse n°2ter (site de Faurecia). It is also known as puits n° 2 or vieux 2.

The building also contains a permanent exhibition dedicated to the Compagnie des Mines de Marles which operated this colliery. The history from the first unsuccessful sinking of a shaft in Marles, in 1853, the nationalization of the Collieries in 1946, their dissolution in 1993, and the final closure of the last shaft on March 29, 1974. The exhibition shows documents and photographs, but also equipment related to local mining activities. That’s the reason why it is called Musee de la mine on Google Maps.

The Chevalement Le Vieux II shaft at Marles-les-Mines collapsed in 1866 due to a large influx of water. This story inspired 20 years later Emile Zola, who then came to the North-Pas-de-Calais to learn about the mining basins. He later wrote a book about the mines with the title Germinal, which was converted into several movies. The most famous film is from 1993 with Gerard Depardieux and Miou-Miou.

The site did not attract many visitors, so the municipality tried to push it a little. As a result, there were several open days organized, which included a small marked and continual guided tours all day. The same applied for the European Heritage Days. While the site is exceptional and deserves more visitors, we guess regular and frequent open hours would do the trick. Especially every Sunday instead of every 1st Sunday in the month. The difference between every Sunday and a certain Sunday is massive, visitors tend to come on the wrong Sunday and are annoyed. The above open hours are probably outdated, we were not able to retrieve definitive data. The worst case is that it is open only JUL and AUG on the Sundays. However, if the open hours are complicated and differ from website to website people are not able to see it.