# Coal mine du Gouffre, Charleroi, Belgium, April 2018



## HughieD (Apr 30, 2018)

*1. The History*
The Coal mine du Gouffre (No. 10) was the main and last colliery of the company of Charbonnages du Gouffre. It is located on the outskirts of Charleroi at Châtelet Belgium, Walloon Region in the province of Hainaut. The Coal mine was opened by Société des Charbonnages du Gouffre in 1916 and operated until its closure in 1969. In its heyday it could extract 145,000 tons of coal every year. In the 1960s, the capacity of the coal mine was reduced and by 1963 it could only extract 83,000 tons per year. It finally closed on March 31st, 1969. 


Charbonnage_n°10_du_Gouffre by HughieDW, on Flickr

After its closure, several persons took turns to became the owner of the site. A zoo opened from 1979 to 1982 under the direction of Mr Heuchon. There was also a wrecking yard that left serious pollution on the site. The current concrete buildings have the same architecture (brickstone and reinforced concrete) and date back to 1934. 

*2. The Explore*
Back on my Belgium explores. This was only one of the two many explores in Charleroi I had slated on my recent trip to Belgium that I managed to do. This one was an easy one. On the outskirts of town – it was a park up and walk in on a very sunny April morning. The place was more photographically pleasing than the explore itself. Very photogenic but effectively a hulking concrete shell with little-to-no interior detail left. Still worth the effort though.

*3. The Photos*

Here she comes into sight:


img6594 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6595 by HughieDW, on Flickr

There’s a lorra concrete here…


img6599 by HughieDW, on Flickr

But there’s a certain architectural style to it all:


img6600 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6601 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And the odd bit of decent graff:


img6602 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6610 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6604 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Some shots suit a bit of old-school B+W:


img6606bw by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6608bw by HughieDW, on Flickr

Some look better in colour:


img6607 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6609 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Internally it’s just a shell:


img6612 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6614 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6616 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6617 by HughieDW, on Flickr

But still worth the effort:


img6618 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img6619 by HughieDW, on Flickr


----------



## Malenis (Apr 30, 2018)

Niccccccccce!


----------



## Mikeymutt (May 1, 2018)

She'll it might be hughie but it's such a nice place with some lovely graffiti


----------



## smiler (May 1, 2018)

Jobs a good'un, nice one


----------



## prettyvacant71 (May 1, 2018)

Love Charleroi and the surrounding industrial area, hope there's still miles of pipes criss-crossing the roads???

Good to see a historic pic, really adds to your report to see how the place looked when it was in use. You caught some lovely morning light adding some warmth to the brickwork, very nice HD!


----------



## HughieD (May 2, 2018)

Cheers folks. Bit of a shell but yes, that early morning sun illuminated the place really nicely.


----------



## HughieD (Jun 20, 2018)

My French ain't great but I think this news update says this place is going to be saved...

https://www.telesambre.be/m/un_ancien_site_minier_va_etre_rehabilite_a_chatelineau_-26561-999-.html


----------



## UrbandonedTeam (Jun 20, 2018)

Great spot man, exterior looks awesome. I like that graffiti with the guy pulling apart the wall


----------



## wolfism (Jun 23, 2018)

Nice shots, it is just a shell but the Jamie Hewlett graf character from Gorillaz makes up for it.


----------

