Last modified: 2021-02-02 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-59-de.gif)
Flag of Dechy - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 17 December 2020
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The municipality of Dechy (5,362 inhabitants in 2018; 927 ha; municipal website) is located south-east of Douai.
Dechy was mentioned for the first time, as Diptiacum, on a document signed by King Charles the Bald on 23 March 1867. The king ruled that funds perceived by the abbey of Saint-Amand in the County of Ostrevent, Dechy included, should solely be used for the benefit of the abbey and not for the abbot's personal use.
A coal-mining shaft was opened in Dechy in 1863 by the Compagnie des Mines d'Aniche, established in 1773. A second shaft was opened between 1898 and 1902, while 76 coke furnaces were operated between 1898 and 1902. In 1897, a battery of 25 modern Solvay furnaces was inaugurated.
The population of the village increased from 2,847 to 4,744 between 1921 and 1926. Nearly 4/5 of the inhabitants of the village were miners, several of them of Polish origins.
The mine was eventually closed on 3 March 1978.
Ivan Sache, 19 December 2020
The flag of Dechy (photo,
photo,
photo,
photo) is white with the municipal arms, "Per pale, 1. Or a half-eagle sable, 2. Azure semy fleurs-de-lis or", and the name of the municipality below.
The arms were assigned by Th. Leuridan (Armorial des communes du département du Nord, 1909) as the arms of the abbey of Saint-Amand, once lord of Dechy.
Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 19 December 2020