Ferrière-la-Grande

Commune in Hauts-de-France, France

Coat of arms

Location of Ferrière-la-Grande

(2020–2026) Benoît Courtin^[1]Area

10.01 km² (3.86 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

5,202 • Density520/km² (1,300/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code

59230 /59680

Elevation127–184 m (417–604 ft)
(avg. 149 m or 489 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Ferrière-la-Grande (French pronunciation: [fɛʁjɛʁ la ɡʁɑ̃d]) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.^[3] The river Solre flows through the commune.

In 1828 Pierre François Dumont applied for a concession to operate iron mines in the canton of Maubeuge, and for authorization to establish two iron furnaces at Ferrière-la-Grande powered by steam.^[4] Dumont founded the factories at Ferrière-la-grande in 1830, the first coke-fired blast furnaces in the north of France to produce and mould pig-iron from the local minerals.^[5] By decree of 23 April 1859 Dumont was granted a concession to build a railway line to link the factories Ferrière-la-Grande to the Saint-Quentin line at Erquelinnes. The line was built on land acquired by Dumont or expropriated on the grounds of public utility.^[6]

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	5,346	—
1975	5,703	+0.93%
1982	5,611	−0.23%
1990	5,746	+0.30%
1999	5,672	−0.14%
2007	5,457	−0.48%
2012	5,365	−0.34%
2017	5,301	−0.24%
Source: INSEE^[7]

Heraldry

The arms of Ferrière-la-Grande are blazoned :

Quarterly 1&4: Argent, 3 fesses gules; 2&3: Argent, 3 wagoner's axes top 2 addorsed gules. ^[8](Bermerain, Étrœungt, Féron, Ferrière-la-Grande, Lez-Fontaine, Rousies, Solre-le-Château and Solrinnes use the same arms.)

References

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
^ INSEE commune file
^ Barbier & Daviet 1989, p. 217.
^ Bulletin de le Societe ... 1890, p. 265.
^ Carnot 1881, p. 367.
^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
^ Arms of the families of Croÿ-Solre and Croÿ-Renty quartered

Sources

Barbier, Frédéric; Daviet, Jean-Pierre (1989), Le patronat du Nord sous le Second Empire: une approche prosopographique, Librairie Droz, ISBN 978-2-600-03408-1, retrieved 19 August 2017
"Etablissements metallurgiques de Ferrière-la-grande", Bulletin de le Societe de l'Industrie Minerale (in French), vol. IV, Société de l'industrie minérale, 1890, retrieved 28 October 2017
Carnot, Sadi (1881), Annales des ponts et chaussees. 2. partie: Partie administrative (in French), retrieved 28 October 2017