Carvin, Pas-de-Calais Département, Hauts-de-France, France

🇫🇷 Carvin is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

An ex-coalmining commune, now a light industrial and farming town, situated some 14 miles (22.5 km) north-east of Lens, completely encircled by the N17 and D919 ring road.

Major excavations have recently revealed occupation going back to Neolithic times. This settlement is linked to the existence of the vast wet depression around the now-disappeared castle of Epinoy. In the early 12th century, the hamlet of Épinoy, now the east part of the commune, was the home of the hermit Saint Druon of Sebourg.

The history of this market town, located on the road between Arras, Lille and Tournai, was then marked by coal mining, starting in the mid-nineteenth century and ending in 1975. One of the smaller mining companies had its headquarters in Carvin. At nationalisation, the pits and mining facilities were consolidated within the Oignies group.

In 1947, Carvin lost nearly a third of its territory with the separation of the commune of Libercourt, which claimed its independence. The town lost much of its industry during the years 1970 to 1990. Mining, construction and engineering were all reduced in size. Much of the railway network was dismantled in the early 1990s. Today it is mostly a services and residential commune for the regional capital, Lille.

Places of interest • The church of St.Martin, dating from the eighteenth century. • Two nineteenth-century churches, of St. Druon and St.Barbe. • The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.