Mining colonies in South Limburg: social housing

In 1911 the priest-politician Dr H. Poels founded the Vereniging Ons Limburg (Society Our Limburg) that was intended as a service organisation for promoting community development in the mining region of South-Limburg. The most important role his society played was to serve as an umbrella organisation for the various small social housing societies and social welfare organisations that has sprung up in Limburg after the Social Housing Bill (Woningwet) of 1901 was implemented.

The Society Our Limburg assisted both organisations on religious principles (read: catholic) as well as organisations founded by unions, corporations and local government. The emphasis was always on the improvement of living conditions and the betterment of the lower classes and housing therefore was a priority, together with clean water and community health care provision (i.e. The Green Cross and the White-Yellow Cross).

The first housing completed under the auspices of Our Limburg was De Eerste Stap (literally: The First Step) in Hoensbroek -now a borough of Heerlen- in 1913. The organisation also coordinated the completion of the Eikenderveld Estate in Heerlen built between 1911-12 for railway workers. An important break from the factory housing provided by the mining companies was that these housing estates were inspired by Garden City Movement ideals on social housing for the working classes. Most housing provided was segregated with streets devoted to certain income classes as advocated by the catholic clergy. The erection of schools and a chapel or church was always part of the intensions, although in some cases these would not be built at all or much later.

Other housing estates built under auspices of Our Limburg aimed at housing miners are: 't Eikske (1913, Orange-Nassau II), Colony Schaesberg (1913-18, Orange-Nassau Mine II), Tuindorp Treebeek (1913-18, State Mine Emma), Tempsplein (1913, Orange-Nassau Mine I), Ganzeweide* (1914-20, Orange-Nassau Mine IV), In den Bodem (1915-23, State Mine Hendrik), Schuttersveld (1918-21, State Mine Hendrik), Kloosterkolonie (1915, State Mine Emma), Colony Rozegaard* (1915-19, State Mine Hendrik), Heilust* (1915-20, Willem-Sofia), Kolonie Nieuw Einde* (1917-25, Carisborg Lignite Mine), De Passart (1918, State Mine Emma), Terwinselen-Dorp (1918-1930, State Mine Wilhelmina), Versiliënbosch (1920, Orange-Nassau Mine IV),  Molenberg (1919-27, Orange-Nassau Mine I), Meezenbroek (1920-25, Orange-Nassau Mine II) De Egge (1920, State Mine Hendrik), De Wingerd (1925, State Mine Emma), Langeberg (1929-30, State Mine Hendrik),  Lauradorp (1929-31, Mining Corporation Laura and Julia), Maria-Christinawijk (1942-47, Orange-Nassau Mine IV), Gracht (1915-35 and 1955, Willem-Sofia) and Mariarade (1945-49, State Mine Emma).

The Colony Musschemig erected as company housing between 1904-06 for Orange-Nassau Mine I should be seen as a precursor to social housing along Garden City Ideals. This colony of semidetached, single-storey white cottages makes an effort to create a semi-rural living environment to accommodate new migrant workers (assumed to be of a rural background). In contrast another example of company housing Kolonie De Hopel (1906-10, extended 1930) was built inspired by Garden City Ideals, but functioned as a mining colony controlled by the mining company Laura & Julia. Although very beautiful, and recently restored, De Hopel lacks any of the spatial characteristics of Unwinesque garden city design. As such it is a colony with housing in a vernacular style. Something similar can be said of colonies 't Eikske and Gracht.

After 1900 the spoil heaps take off and grow steadily into artificial hills that dominate the hilly landscape. Most mines had a spoil heap on or near the colliery site. Examples are: Steenstort Laura (Ss), Steenhoop Julia (Sh), Steenberg Terwinselen (St) of State Mine Wilhelmina, MIjnsteenberg Willem-Sofia (Ms) and the Heksenberg (Hb) of Orange-Nassau Mine IV. Other mines had spoil heaps at some distance at the end of a railway or transport line: spoil heap Berenbos (Bb) of the Domanial Mines, the enormous Koumerberg (Kb) for the Orange-Nassau Mines I, II and III. Of these spoil heaps only the one in Terwinselen survives (as a skiing slope). The Heksenberg will be removed to extract the silicate sands beneath. All other spoil heaps were dismantled after the closure of the mines. The material was used to fill in former lignite surface mines or as the base material for the concrete and asphalt industries. A small part of the Koumerberg survives as a park. The spoil heap at Berenbos was capped to fill in the adjacent lignite quarry Anna and the remaining low hill was planted as a park.

The social housing for miners aggregates around the collieries and lignite quarries. These surface mines were abandoned after the 1960s and in part replaced by sand quarries. The lignite mines were: Brunahilde (BH), Kleiberg or Brunahilde II (K), Energy (E),Carisborg (C),Vrieheide or Carisborg II (V), Herman (H) and Anna (A).The social housing extends throughout the mining region: Musschemig (1), Eikenderveld (2), Tempsplein (3), Meezenbroek (4), Molenberg (5), Schaesberg (6), 't Eikske (7), Terwinselen-Dorp (8), Heilust (9), Gracht (10), De Hopel (11), Lauradorp (12), Heksenberg (13), Maria-Christinawijk (14), Ganzeweide (15), Versiliënbosch (16), Nieuw Einde (17), Langeberg (18), Schuttersveld (19), De Egge (20), Roozegaard (21), In den Bodem (22), Treebeek (23), Kloosterrade-Mariarade (24), De Passart (25), De Eerste Stap (26), De Wingerd (27) and Stationskolonie (28). There is a clear lack of social housing by Ons Limburg in Kerkrade.

These mining colonies of social housing would strongly direct the urban development of Brunssum, Hoensbroek, Heerlerheide, Heerlen, Schaesberg, Nieuwenhagen, Waubach, Ubach over Worms, Eygelshoven, Blijerheide, Chevremont, Spekholzerheide and Kerkrade into the current conurbation stat was renamed Parkstad (City of Parks) after the mines closed. Before then it was known as the Oostelijke Mijnstreek (Mining Region East). The area around State Mine Maurits in Geleen and Beek was analogously called Westelijke Mijnstreek (Mining Region West).

All colonies no longer in existence have been indicated by *.

Mining colonies in South Limburg: company housing

Some twenty-five years after the closure of the last mine in South-Limburg several former mining colonies were restored and listed with monumental status. The Dutch State Service for Archaeology, Cultural Landscapes and Monuments (Rijksdienst voor Archeologie, Cultuurlandschap en Monumenten or RACM) has listed almost all of the former mining colonies still in existence. In some cases the buildings and all the related structures, including for instance sheds, hedges and garden gates are listed and thus protected. In other cases a conservation area has been outlined with the cityscape protected from changes in character.

As industrialisation in South-Limburg was late to take off compared to neighbouring Belgium and Germany, the first phase of rampant piecemeal urbanisation was bypassed. The growth in employment in the local industrial sector (mainly mining) grew rapidly from 1.149 employees in 1900 via 37.645 employees in 1930 to 47.554 employees in 1950. Mining companies were more or less forced to provide housing to attract enough workers. This however didn't mean that supply kept up with demand, so there was a lot of overcrowding and many people converted shed and rooms into "housing". The hilly landscape with little more than dirt roads for communications meant that miners had to be housed near their work place. So with every new pit a new provision for more housing had to be made.  

The first mines were exploited by Germans from neighbouring Aix-la-Chapelle or Belgians from nearby Wallonia; so these first mining colonies have a distinct foreign flavour, much like Le Projet de Place Dor in Budel. There is a clear difference in approach between the early colonies built between 1900 and 1913 and the second wave built between 1913 and 1950. After WW2 no new colonies were developed, except for the completion of older estates, instead the empty spaces within the urbanised landscape were diligently filled in with planned housing estates, either in a traditionalist idiom or in a modern CIAM-inspired manner.

The first wave of mining colonies were mathematical setups dominated by Mulhouse  Quadrangles inserted in the pre-existing spatial pattern. In South-Limburg these Mulhouse Quadrangles are also known as Lorraine Blocks (Lotharingse Blokken) after the Belgian origins of the owner of the private Orange-Nassau Mines (Oranje-Nassau Mijnen) Henri Sarolea. The Colony Beersdal (1912) for the mine Orange-Nassau I (ON1) is the largest example; others include: Colony Grasbroek (1899-1904 for ON1) and the Colonies Leenhof I, II, III and IV (built between 1906 and 1913 for ON2). The Colony Vrank* (1900 - ON1) consisted of long rows of low houses along parallel streets. The Colony Rennemig (1914 - ON3) consists of 3 short streets with large semidetached houses on the side of a small river valley.  The first miners colony built by the private mining companies was the Kolonie Morgenster* (=Colony Morning Star) of 1899 built for Orange-Nassau I.

Housing provisions by the oldest mine, the Domanial Mine, can't be traced back. It seems to have been rather unplanned in and around pre-existing settlements. Small-scale planned housing is provided by the company when other mining concessions are incorporated. Not far from the Zeche Bärenbusch a row of mining cottages were built at the Colony Vink*. At some distance south of the main colliery of the Domanial Mines another housing group Colony Kokele* was built along two parallel streets. These weren't Mulhouse Quadrangles however. Further north, along the edge of the colliery site some houses for overseers and engineers with a large hostel for single miners were built along the Laurastraat in 1901 by Laura & Vereeniging (the Laura & Associates Mining Company).

Housing was also provided for the State Mines. The earliest examples can be found in Hoensbroek with the Woongroep Butting (1909) and Woongroep Kasteel (1911) for the State Mine Emma and in Kerkrade Kolonie Terwinselen I (1903) and II (1905-6) for State Mine Wilhelmina. Of these the Woongroep Butting and Terwinselen I* comprises of Mulhouse Quadragles. Butting also has a large Hostel. The other colonies consist of large semidetached family houses with rooms for lodgers (Terwinselen II) or small terraced housing (Kasteel).

The private mines of South Limburg are located in Kerkrade (Domanial Mine - D, Nulland Colliery - N, Beerenbosch Colliery - B, Laura & Vereeniging - LV, Julia - J and Willem-Sofia - WS), in Heerlen including Heerlerheide (Orange-Nassau I - ON1, Orange-Nassau III - ON3 and Orange-Nassau VI - ON4) and in Landgraaf (Orange-Nassau II - ON2). The State Mines are located on the border between Landgraaf and Kerkrade (State Mine Wilhelmina - S-W), in Hoensbroek (State Mine Emma - S-E) and in Brunssum (State Mine Hendrik - S-H).The mines comprised of several pits and were linked by railways (in green).The purpose-built mining colonies are mostly located around the ON1 Mine: Morgenster (1), Grasbroek (2), Vrank (3), Beersdal (4) and Rennemig (5). Butting (6) is located near State Mine Emma. Leenhof I and II (7), Leenhof III (8) and Leenhof IV (9) are built in succession at some distance of Orange-Nassau II. Terwinselen I and II (10), Laurastraat (11) and Vink (12) are all comparable to examples from Essen and consist of housing in a strip. Colony Kokele (13) was similar but extends between two parallel streets connected with a side street.  

The architecture of these early mining colonies is clearly based on German examples, mainly from Essen. This is logical al the action directors of this mining company were two German brothers named Carl and Friedrich Honigmann. They also had the single-storey white houses of the Colony Musschemig (1904-06, indicated by m on the map) erected. These pre-empt later developments along the lines of Garden City Movement ideals. The mining colony directly adjacent to Leenhof IV show the housing typical of this second type. This Colony Schaesberg takes inspiration from garden city examples as a way to house workers in socially rented housing.

 All colonies no longer in existence have been indicated by *.

Aachener Steinkohlrevier, mining in Limburg

The Aachener Steinkohlrevier connects to the coal reserves of the Sillon Industriel, the Walloon industrial heartland. This reserve of coal stretches from the city of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) through the Netherlands into the Belgian Campine. The coal deposits around Aix-la-Chapelle consist of both black coal and brown coal (or lignite). Lignite is still mined north of the city in large surface mining pits of many square kilometres.

Mining of coal in near-surface deposits had been practiced from 1200 onwards (in Kerkrade) by the local monastery. Mining in this area started in earnest around 1800 around Aachen, then part of Prussia. In 1810 Walloon engineers preformed deep probing, but found little of interest.André Dumont was convinced that the coal found around Aix-la-Chapelle would stretch further westward, possibly as far as Antwerp below the hills of Limburg and undulating landscape of the Campine. So in 1891 he starts a program of methodical probing for coal in South Limburg, the Limburgian Campine and the Antwerp Campine. Save for the latter area, his probing was successful so concessions were obtained around 1900 from the Belgian and Dutch authorities to start mining. Not only coal was discovered, lignite was also found between Brunssum and Heerlen (Carisborg, Braunhilde and Energie), near Geleen (Louisagroeve) and north of Kerkrade (Herman and Anna). Salt and sand for glass manufacturing were also discovered.

Mining in the Limburgian Campine has been discussed earlier. In the adjacent area of South Limburg -part of the Netherlands- mining for coal and stone quarries had existed for many centuries but never at a large scale. The first concession for scaled-up mining was granted to the Rolduc Abbey in 1766. The first mines to follow the successful probing by Walloon engineers were German industrialists from the city of Aix-la-Chapelle. Belgian Henri Sarolea was granted the concession for the Oranje-Nassau Mines in 1893. German Anton Wackers received his concession Laura in 1899 and the concession for Julia in 1900. In 1899 the Dutch government had appointed the State Commission on Mining who advised against granting further concessions to foreign companies, but to exploit the reserves in a state-lead company: Domanial and State Mines (now DSM). In total 5 mining concession were granted: Wilhelmina (1906), Emma (1911), Hendrik (1915), Maurits (1926) and Beatrix (1954). The last concession was never exploited, so there were 4 state mines in Limburg.

The mines of South Limburg are all located in the south of the Dutch Province of Limburg, between the cities of Aix-la-Chapelle (A), Maastricht (M), Liège (L), Genk (G) and Roermond (R). Unexploited deposits extend northward under the Peel Region between the cities of Eindhoven (E) and Venlo (V).The private mines were located in Kerkrade (Domanial Mine - D), in Eygelshoven (Laura & Julia Mines - L), in Spekholzerheide (Willem-Sophia Mine - WS), and in Heerlen, Heerlerheide and Schaesberg (Orange Nassau Mines 1-4 - ON). The state mines were located further north in Terwinselen (State Mine Wilhelmina - W), in Brunssum (State Mine Hendrik - H), in Treebeek (State Mine Emma - E), in Geleen (State Mine Maurits - M), and the never exploited concession in Herkenbosch (State Mine Beatrix - B).

Mining in the Netherlands would last until 1974. State Mine Maurits in Geleen closed first. The other mines followed suit and the last mine to close was Oranje-Nassau I that had opened in 1899 and was one of the oldest and deepest mines in operation. The evidence of mining was quickly wiped out, spoil heaps were levelled, apart from a few that were to polluted, all the buildings and rail tracks were demolished and broken up. The sites of the mines were developed for housing or for industrial use. In some cases even the old mining colonies were torn down in an effort to mitigate the loss -as seen from a political vantage point far away in The Hague. Unlike the situation in the adjoining Limburgian Campine in Belgium where many remnants remain, only a few mining colonies, collieries, spoil heaps and train tracks remain. State imposed job-creation proved short-term and of little help to the miners that had been laid off, so to this day former mining districts in the towns of Geleen, Brunssum, Heerlen, Kerkrade and Landgraaf remain pockets of high unemployment, low skill levels and little prospects.