In a period of about 50 years -between 1910 and 1960- the
board of directors at the Beringen Colliery developed a colony around their
mining operation. Work started with making the site accessible by road
(Koolmijnlaan) and by rail, sinking two pits and erecting barracks to house the
workers needed for preparing the site. Permanent housing for supervisors and workers
was quick to follow, as was a permanent foothold for the company director. All
this was executed between 1907 and 1914.
Work continued in 1919. This was the start of a massive campaign of house building
aimed at attracting skilled workers into the rather isolated area.
Besides houses for workers, middle and higher management,
amenities were added to provide a good living environment for everyone working
for the mining firm. The colony was aimed to be more or less self-sufficient.
This is why the farm called the Posthoorn (yes this translates as post-horn) was
bought and expanded to provide milk and vegetables for the miners. In the
garden village - next to the kindergarten- a milk dispensary was built in the
1920s. Sporting facilities were seen as an important way to keep the workforce fit.
In the garden village a football stadium was built for the miners. Behind the
executive villas built for the engineers and supervisors tennis courts were laid
out around a pavilion. There also used to be a water sport pavilion on the
Albert Canal. A bandstand provided a podium for the company brass band. The
so-called Casino (literally: little house in Italian, a term originally used
for a garden pavilion) provided room for the various social clubs of both
miners and white collar workers. Schooling was also provided: a primary school
and kindergarten were built in the centre of the garden village. Later a second
primary school was built on the edge of the western garden village. On the edge
of Beringen-Mijn a secondary school (Mijnschool) was later added. The mines infirmary
soon needed expansion so a hospital was built. The mental welfare was first
provided by a small chapel. Later this building was replaced by a huge church on
a central location between the workers houses.
The mining colony of
Beringen-Mijn wraps itself around the colliery grounds with the pits, offices
and slag heaps.
Both the colliery of Beringen and the Cité-West were
located in Koersel. The Cité-Oost is mostly located in Beverlo. Both these mining
colonies (or mijncités in Flemish) are historically and morphologically part of
Beringen-Mijn. The church of Saint Theodardus, the so-called Mine Cathedral, was
built on the pivot point between the Cité-Oost and the Cité-West. The latter mining
colony differs greatly from the neighbouring one in its layout. Here large
green open spaces form the focus of the garden city style residential area. The
streets that run off these "village greens" are always short and
rather straight. The first colony east of the central Koolmijnlaan (literally:
Colliery Avenue) has a rather emblematic layout with a strong influence from
the meandering interpretation of garden city principles along the esthetic of
then current garden design.
The whole of Beringen-Mijn consists of buildings, both
residential and industrial, on either side of the central main road
(Koolmijnlaan). At the heart of this the two pit towers still stand. North of
these the offices of the colliery were built. Opposite the director had his
residence built, located in a large park. This park is part of a strip of large
en small villas along the western side of the central main road. North of the
directors private park a small neigbourhood was created for middle management
around a public garden with a bandstand (muziekkiosk).The miners were housed in
the north of Beringen-Mijn in two garden villages separated by an area
designated for shops and housing people not directly employed by the colliery.
Amenities were either centrally placed as a focal point in the urban fabric
(the primary school and the Casino) or along the edges (sporting facilities,
secondary school and hospital).
A schematic drawing of Beringen-Mijn
showing the distribution of housing, amenities and colliery. The setup was
based on a segregation of functions (housing for the different classes was also
treated here as different functions), thus conforming to garden city principles.
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