Aniche

Middle Ages

• In the early 12th century, Marchiennes Abbey owned the altar and tithes which had previously been owned by Anselm le Barbu, Count of Ostrevant, and his successors
• On 27 April 1181, Philippe, Count of Flanders and Vermandois, was at the Saint-Martin of Aniche basilica in the presence of the relics of the Virgin Eusebia. He regulated the rights of the Abbey on tithing.
• In 1209, Bauduin of Obrechicourt, knight, waived his rights for tithes from Aniche.
• In 1219, Robert, sire of Aniche, made an award in favour of the Abbey for land that he contested with Jean le Mirail d'Aniche.
• In 1340, during the Hundred Years War, the people of Douai, France's allies, burned the village which was considered pro-British.

Aniche and Auberchicourt long had the same lords.

Cartulary of Duke Charles de Croy

The Gouache painting (opposite) was probably painted in 1603 and appears in the Albums de Croÿ. It is part of a wide range of topographical paintings made at the request of the Duke of Croy: an oval with a bird's-eye view of the landscape is framed in the four corners by four naked male figures with those at the top facing and the lower ones facing to the rear. The oval medallion contains a cartouche with the name of the village over a representation of the landscape seen from the south in late summer (see the plowed field and leaves on the trees).

In the foreground

• A road on the left with two figures. This road would be the way from Bouchain to Auberchicourt and Douai.
• In the centre bottom a shepherd on a hill with four sheep with a further ten sheep between the path and the plowed field.

In the background

• The village houses grouped around the church on the edge of the plowed field. Note that the artist has featured hooks on the church roof which trapped snow and also allowed the hanging of ladders for maintenance of the slates. Two turrets are visible on the side of the church with spires covered with slate.
• Seven buildings to the left of the church, eleven to the right all with 2 sided roofs.
• The church dominates the centre of the medallion with the bell tower on the left with a spire and four Fléchons covered with slate, angled and louvred, the choir on the right with four high bays whose roof is lower than the nave. The nave seems be made of four bays without an aisle. The choir appears to be of Roman style, narrower and lower and unusually elongated (with three spans). This church differs from the present church which was rebuilt from 1857 to 1859 and the tower rebuilt in 1872.
• Another impressive building is located on the right.

In the far background

• A dominant hill on the right.

From the 16th century to the Revolution

• In 1616, Peter Paul Rubens came to Cambrai from his Rubenshuis in Antwerp and, in passing Lille, stopped at Aniche and left three paintings including The Entombment and two smaller ones: a Saint Francis and a Saint Clare. For The Entombment (also called the Descent from the Cross), Rubens painted the Christ naked. According to Eugéne-Bouly de Lesdain it is no longer intact: "A foreign hand cast a veil of decency on the painting which he felt obliged to impose". An alien hand that may be attributed to Anonymous of Antwerp.

The Entombment by Rubens is always visible in the Church of Saint-Gery of Cambrai.

• Under Charles V Aniche became a possession of the King of Spain until the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 when the Chatellenie of Bouchain returned to Louis XIV, King of France.
• In 1686, Eugène de Sainte-Adelgonde, Baron of Bours and Rieulay held the right of high justice in the land of Aniche under letters patent of engagement (lettres-patentes d'engagière).
• In 1778, on the night of 11 to 12 September, the discovery of coal in the Sainte Catherine pit caused the expansion and transformation of village society. The Marquis de Traisnel Company and Claude-Constant Juvénal d'Harville des Ursins, then the owner of the manor, became the Aniche Mining Company - the second largest coal company in France after the Anzin Mining Company.

18th century

On the morning of 7 February 1827 at the Saint Hyacinthe pit, fire broke out in an access passage for the workers to descend into the pit. Thick smoke spread inside the mine and asphyxiated 46 workers employed in the coal extraction tunnels. Seven young men and two fathers were found dead.

• 50°20′4.71″N 3°14′43.47″E / 50.3346417°N 3.2454083°E / 50.3346417; 3.2454083 Location of the Saint Hyacinthe pit

From the 19th century to the present day

After the creation of the first glassworks in 1823, Aniche became, from the middle of the 19th century, the French capital of the window glass industry and went from 4,000 to 7,500 inhabitants in 1900. The Antoine Lumière & son plates and photographic papers Company (Lyon) were supplied by the Glassworks of the Station, better known under the name "Belotte Glass".

On 28 November 1900, 21 workers were killed by the explosion of 148 kg of dynamite in the Fenelon pit owned by the Aniche Mining Company.

The First World War caused a sharp slowdown in industrial activity and led to the destruction by the occupying power of the majority of installations before their departure in October 1918.

The occupation lasted 49 months from September 1914 to 20 October 1918 when the village was liberated by British forces. There were 314 war victims from Aniche: 299 at the front or from injuries and 15 civilian victims.

The period between the wars saw the decline of the mining industry with the cessation of operations of the last pit in 1938 and the final closure of the glassworks at the beginning of the Second World War.

Heraldry

The arms of Aniche are blazoned : Ermine, on a cross gules, 5 roses Or. (Aniche, Bugnicourt, and Rieulay use the same arms.)

Geology and terrain

On 27 December 1893, an earthquake occurred in the glass-making district which indicated a seismic risk that the coal mines then more or less took into account.

Communications and transport

Aniche is connected to Douai by bus route 1 (Aniche-Guesnain) which connects with Tram A (Guesnain-Douai) of the SMTC of Douai, as well as routes 211 (Guesnain-Denain via Aniche), 210 (Aniche-Somain), and 201 (Aniche-Villeneuve d'Ascq) operated by the Arc-en-Ciel network.

Phase 3 of Route A will link Aniche on the Évéole network of autobuses to Douai. The line will link the Champ de la Nation in the centre of town and pass along the Rue Henri-Barbusse.

The commune was served by rail transport through Aniche station which was demolished in 2010.

Neighbouring communes and villages

Source:

Distribution of age groups

Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Aniche and Nord Department in 2023

Sites and monuments

• L'Idéal Cinéma Jacques Tati. Its first show was on 23 November 1905. Demolished and rebuilt in 1995.
• The Théodore Monod College is the largest college of the Academy of Lille
• The Church of Saint Martin built in 1855-1859 by the architect Charles Leroy
• The War Memorial 1914-1918 located in the Berrioz Square and opened on 9 November 1924 (314 victims from Aniche).
• The College of Saint Joseph, a former hospital during the war.
• Saint Joseph School
• The pyramid

• 
  The town hall
• 
  Théodore Monod Secondary School
• 
  Claudine Normand Room
• 
  The pyramid
• 
  The war memorial