Billy-Montigny
Encyclopedia
Billy-Montigny is a commune
in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France
.
at the junction of the N43 and D46 roads. The coal lasted just over 100 years, the last pits closing in the 1960s.
The history of the area remains marked by the mining disaster
which resulted in 1,099 casualties on 10 March 1906 in the area of the communes of Billy-Montigny, Méricourt
and Sallaumines
.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Geography
An ex-coalmining industrial town situated just 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the centre of LensLens, Pas-de-Calais
Lens is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is one of France's large Picarde cities along with Lille, Valenciennes, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Arras, and Douai.-Metropolitan area:...
at the junction of the N43 and D46 roads. The coal lasted just over 100 years, the last pits closing in the 1960s.
Population
Places of interest
- The church of St.Martin, dating from the nineteenth century.
- The Commonwealth War Graves CommissionCommonwealth War Graves CommissionThe Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...
cemetery.
History
Courrières mine disaster
The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst mining accident, caused the death of 1,099 miners in Northern France on 10 March 1906. This disaster was surpassed only by the Benxihu Colliery accident in China on April 26, 1942, which killed 1,549 miners...
which resulted in 1,099 casualties on 10 March 1906 in the area of the communes of Billy-Montigny, Méricourt
Méricourt, Pas-de-Calais
Méricourt is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Méricourt is a former coal mining town, nowadays a farming and light industrial town, southeast of Lens, at the junction of the D33, D40 and the D262 roads...
and Sallaumines
Sallaumines
-Administration:Sallaumines is located in the Pas-de-Calais department. It belongs to the Lens-Liévin interommunality which consists of 36 communes, with a total population of 250,000 inhabitants.-History:...
.