Fosse n° 2 de Marles Marles-les-Mines · Hauts-de-France · France

In 1852 Pierre Boucher and Claude Etienne Lacretelle, civil mining engineers, carried out borings in the area of Lillers, discovering the presence of coal. They engaged Émile Rainbeaux, a principal owner of the Grand-Hornu colliery in Belgium, to finance the venture. On 15 November 1852 a partnership was formed between the engineers and Rainbeaux. A concession request in Rainbeaux's name followed, and the concession of the Mines de Marles was definitively established by decree of 29 December 1855, simultaneously with the concessions of Bruay and Ferfay, covering 2,990 hectares.

Fonçage of puits no. 1, at 4.50 metres diameter, began in 1853 at Marles-les-Mines. When the shaft had descended 55 metres the watery ground destroyed the tubbing and work was abandoned. A second shaft, puits no. 2 — named Saint-Émile in honour of Émile Rainbeaux, the company director — was begun 50 metres to the south-east in September 1854. Cuvelage commenced in December 1854. The passage of the water level presented enormous difficulties; the maximum water inflow reached 8,600 hectolitres per hour. The base of the tubbing was established in the coal-bearing terrain at 83 metres depth on 15 October 1856. The first coal was extracted in 1857 or 1858, with initial production from levels at -175 and -225 metres. Between 1862 and 1864, average annual extraction was 64,738 tonnes and average annual profit 201,776 francs.

On 28 April 1866, at eight in the morning, a strong movement was observed in the tubbing at approximately 56 metres depth; two sections of tubbing were pushed noticeably inward over a height of five metres. The ingénieur had the winding stopped and the workers raised, and attempted repairs. At half past nine, three pieces of tubbing broke away, releasing a torrent of water. By 3 May the fosse had completely collapsed, leaving a crater approximately 30 metres in diameter. The collapse destroyed the headframe, the dewatering machine, and part of the winding building. No casualties were reported but the financial loss was catastrophic. The collapse of the Marles pit is considered by contemporaries as a precedent, and Émile Zola is thought to have drawn on it for the destruction of the Voreux in Germinal. With 840 of the concession's 2,990 hectares subsequently abandoned for fear of water in neighbouring workings, production continued at fosse no. 3 (Saint-Firmin), sunk at Auchel from 1862 and productive from 1865, to which all workers from puits no. 2 were transferred.

Following the catastrophe the concession was reorganised. By 1890 the company produced 600,000 tonnes from three sièges d'exploitation, each comprising two puits. The million-tonne threshold was reached in 1897. In 1904 the workforce stood at 5,360, of whom 4,209 worked underground. On the eve of the First World War the company possessed four sièges d'exploitation and employed 6,238 workers. In 1907 the Compagnie de Marles resumed déblayage of the collapsed fosse no. 2, and using new technical methods the shaft was made operational in 1908. It was then held in dormant service until 1917, during which time it provided aeration for the newly created fosse no. 2 bis, sunk 830 metres to the south-south-west. A puits no. 2 ter was added from 1917. Fosse no. 2 thereafter served as a service and ventilation shaft. During the First World War Marles played an important production role as the eastern basin was in enemy hands; by end of 1917 the workforce had exceeded 15,000 and that year's production reached 2,882,000 tonnes. Polish workers arrived in large numbers: in 1924, of a total workforce of 16,013, some 6,517 were Polish. In 1927 the company employed 19,051 workers of whom 6,296 were Polish, and production reached 3,300,000 tonnes. The concession held 7,000 housing units, 4,500 built after 1918.

The current headframe of puits no. 2, constructed in riveted lattice-work steel beams with a single campanile, dates from 1921 and reaches 19.70 metres in height. The winding engine, built by Leflaive et Compagnie of Saint-Étienne, dates from 1920 and originated from the mines du Boulonnais; it is equipped with a 430-horsepower flat-cable drum winding system and a Westinghouse electric motor.

The Compagnie des mines de Marles was nationalised in 1946 and integrated into the Groupe d'Auchel within the Houillères du Bassin du Nord-Pas-de-Calais (HBNPC). From 1949 the siège 2 was selected to be the grande concentration for the western extreme of the basin, and in 1951 modernisation of fosse 2 bis-2 ter began; during this period fosse no. 2 was returned to extraction service. In 1962 puits no. 2 bis was deepened to 800 metres with a new accrochage at 790 metres, but the gisement proved less rich than expected. At 1 June 1963, 3,139 underground miners and over 300 surface workers were employed. Between September 1970 and October 1971, in 263 working days, 394,313 net tonnes were extracted. From total depths of puits 2 at 506 metres, puits 2 bis at 825 metres, and puits 2 ter at 647 metres, all three were backfilled in 1974. The last berline ascended on 29 March 1974. From 1858 to 1974 the siège 2 had produced a total of 45.74 million tonnes. The headframes of puits 2 bis and 2 ter were demolished in 1977 and 1978. The commune of Marles-les-Mines purchased the puits no. 2 headframe and winding engine in April 1979. The building was renovated in 1989 and inaugurated on 9 June 1991 with a pyrotechnic display. The Houillères du Bassin du Nord-Pas-de-Calais were dissolved in 1993. The chevalement and the ancient parts of the winding engine building were inscribed to the Inventaire Supplémentaire des Monuments Historiques on 6 May 1992. The chevalement was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 30 June 2012 as site no. 101 within the 353-element inscription of the Bassin minier du Nord-Pas-de-Calais.