Bruay-la-Buissière

Bruay-la-Buissière
Bruay-la-Buissière
Location within Nord-Pas-de-Calais region  Bruay-la-Buissière
Administration
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Béthune
Canton	Bruay-la-Buissière (chef-lieu)
Intercommunality	communauté d'agglomération de l'Artois
Mayor	Alain Wacheux (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	30–106 m (98–348 ft) (avg. 98 m or 322 ft)
Land area1	16.35 km2 (6.31 sq mi)
Population2	23,998  (1999)
- Density	1,468 /km2 (3,800 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	62178/ 62700
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Bruay-la-Buissière is a commune and seat of a canton in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

Geography

Slag heap

Miners’ houses

An ex-coalmining town some 6 miles (9.7 km) southwest of Béthune and 30 miles (48.3 km) southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D57 and the N47 roads.

History

The two places of Bruay-en-Artois and La Buissiere were joined as one commune in 1987. With 4 coal mines, it was the headquarters of the mining company. The coal mines closed during the 1960s, to be replaced by light industrial work and chemical factories.

A pit head of the Compagnie des mines de Bruay

Population

Historical population of Bruay-la-Buissière

Year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999
Population	30,982	32,341	29,435	26,649	24,927	23,998
From the year 1962 on: population without double counting—residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) are counted only once.

Places of interest

• The Hotel de Ville (Town Hall), 47m tall and built in 1927. The windows recount scenes from the lives of miners.
• The Art Deco swimming pool, built in 1936 (the last remaining Art Deco pool open to the public)
• The Museum of mining.
• The Church of Saint Martin, dating from the fifteenth century, was expanded and renovated in 1974.
• Ballencourt manor in La Buissière, was built in 1777. Partially renovated, it now hosts the music school.
• The donjon of the castle of La Buissière, built in 1310 by Mahaut, Countess of Artois.
• The church at La Buissière, presently closed to the public for renovation work.
• The Velodrome at La Buissière built by the Bruay Mining Co., in 1925.
• The Museum of calculation and Scripture. Traces the history of writing and calculating machines such as the Enigma German coding machine.

See also

• Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

References

• INSEE commune file

External links

• The CWGC graves in the Bruay-la-Buissière communal cemetery
• Official website of the commune (French)
• A website about the commune (French)
• The website of the intercommunality (French)
• Website of the Communauté du Bruaysis (French)
• Bruay-la-Buissière on the Quid website (French)