Mining colonies: Beringen-Mijn

Located on the western edge of the Campine coal basin lies the mining town of Beringen-Mijn. Due to complicated municipal boundaries the housing for the miners of the nearby mining seat of Beringen was located were Koersel and Beverlo meet. The mine itself was located in both Koersel and Beringen, but named after the town of Beringen and not the small village of Koersel. Nowadays both Koersel and Beverlo have been annexed by Beringen into a much larger municipality. Within this expanded municipality several neigbourhoods can be found that were built for housing miners, middle management, senior management or directors. Housing in these mining colonies was segregated along class-lines.

  

The mining colonies in Beringen are mainly situated in Beringen-Mijn north and west of the mine (M). The oldest workers housing is found in Tuinwijk Beverlo (1). Tuinwijk Koersel (2) was subsequently developed. Between the two the Mijnkathedraal (Miners Cathedral - C) was built with a large graveyard (Begraafplaats -B) nearby. East of the pits two slag heaps (Terril -T) were raised. Next to the largest slag heap the Tuinwijk Baltische Kamp (3) was built. The last colony (Steenveld -4) was built between Beringen and Koersel at some distance of the mine.

The need for so-called mining colonies lay in the enormous expansion of the population because of the mining industry. The Belgian province of Limburg had been a self-sufficient sparsely populated agricultural region until the foundation of the coalmines. Between 1806 and 1898 several attempts were made to drill for coal; they failed. It wasn't until André Dumont started drilling in As that a layer of coal was reached at a depth of 541 meters in the night of the second of august 1901. The discovery of the Campine coal basin caused a run on the area. In Belgium mining was seen as a matter for private enterprise. Concessions could only be obtained from the Belgian government by submitting drilling reports. By 1903 no less than 63 trial drillings were executed. At the end of 1905 42 concessions, with considerable overlap, had been applied for. This was solved by the applicants merging several concession claims and entering into partnership. Thus 10 mining concessions were granted between 1906 and 1911 with three reserve concessions appointed to the state.

The ten mining concessions lead to the foundation of seven coal pits or mining seats, each comprising of two mineshafts. The seven Campine mines were: Beringen Mine in Beringen, Beverlo, Koersel and Paal,  Charbonnage Limbourg-Meuse in Eisden, Houthalen Mine in Houthalen, Charbonnage André Dumont in Waterschei, Winterslag Mine in Winterslag, Zolder Mine in Zolder and Charbonnage Les Liègeois en Campine in Zwartberg and As. The French names indicate the heavy involvement of Walloon entrepreneurs and upper-class (and thus French speaking) investors. Sinking shafts started quickly after the concessions were granted. The first mine to start production in 1917 was the Charbonnage de Winterslag on the Genck-Sutendael concession in Winterslag a hamlet near Genk in the centre of the Campine coal basin. The Great War halted production elsewhere. The second mine to start production in 1922 was the coalmine at Beringen.

The new mines were founded in a sparsely populated area. Once the location of the pits was decided as much land as possible was bought around it. Most pits are located on former common wasteland like heathland away from existing settlements. Not that any of the settlements in the area of central Limburg were large at all. Genk was the largest village with a little over 2.500 inhabitants. The town of Beringen was home to about 1.500 people. This however would change with the start of mining. The new mining sites became the focus of growth and expansion. The influx of workmen quickly resulted in a housing shortage. The Belgian government encouraged private homeownership. As homeowners the workmen would further the interest of the moneyed classes, so they hoped. The result should be no strikes, less improper behavior, no revolts and no need for workers unions. The small stock of existing housing and the then common practice of house building by private investors were no match for the influx of new inhabitants however. Existing houses were quickly subdivided into rentable rooms and when possible expanded with ramshackle lean-to's. The demand far outstretched the supply.

An evening view of the buildings of Beringen-Mijn, now a museum.

The solution was sought in planned large scale housing, a task taken up by the mining corporations. Thus the mining colony (as seen in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands) is a form of factory housing, often with a socio-cultural agenda behind it. Some workers cottages had been provided when work on sinking the mineshafts had started, and the slow progress in starting up production had the advantageous effect of ample time to plan the future workers housing and do research. The concentration of workers in the various Cités Ouvrières in the Sillion Industriel in Wallonia had led to an activist movement of socialist unions and secularization of the working classes. The powerful catholic church and middle classes in Limburg looked at this in dread. Faced with this "impending danger" they were committed not to make the same mistakes as in Wallonia where poor construction, the use of substandard materials and the way workers housing was laid out led to poor living conditions, decaying buildings and social problems. So model regulation for public hygiene and safety was drafted in 1906. In it the width of the streets, size of plots, size of accommodation and even the minimum size of rooms was determined. Fearful of secluded mining colonies (called mijn-cité in this part of Belgium) where the employer would direct daily life and inhabitants had little contact outside of their community, the government settled on the model of garden villages in accordance with foreign studies and propaganda. In 1919 the National Society for Cheap Houses and Living spaces (Nationale Maatschappij voor Goedkope Woningen en Woonvertrekken) was founded to stimulate local and regional house building for the lower classes. Local and regional building societies as well as companies with a housing association could apply for government grants for building new workers housing. These so-called Tuinwijken (garden quarters) became status symbols for the mining companies who rivaled to provide the best housing in the most pleasing green setting, well designed and with many amenities such as schools, a hospital, sporting grounds, a church, a casino and so-on.

Beringen-Mijn is a prime example of this. This garden village located between Beringen and Beverlo comprises of two mijn-cités, Tuinwijk Beverlo or Cité Oost and Tuinwijk Koersel or Tuinwijk West developed between 1919 and 1947. Of a later date are Tuinwijk Baltische Kamp (1948) on the far edge of the hamlet of Stal near a large slag heap and Tuinwijk Steenveld  (1958-63) located between Beringen and Koersel. These Tuinwijken were developed along existing roads not too far from the mine. Each has a layout indicative of its vintage.

The mining colonies nestle between older arable land and pasture along several brooks on what used to be heathland. Baltische Kamp and Steenveld are of a later date and located on former arable land. Foundation of the mine had a huge influence on the landscape. A long straight street called Koolmijnlaan (Coalmine Avenue - indicated with K) connected a road junction in the north with the town of Beringen in the south. Towards this wide street several other preexisting roads (indicated in yellow) were extended. In other places new roads were drawn, aligned with existing roads or on specific features such as road crossings. A new railway was also constructed (r1). Of this railway a subsidiary (r2) was constructed connecting it to the mine. From the mine a second goods railway (r3) was constructed to link this site to the harbor on the newly cut shipping channel (Albertkanaal - A).