Over the passage is a slate-roofed building ornamented with coloured glazed bricks.
Go through the gate and take the Rue du Faubourg de Roubaix to the Eastern Cemetery. The graves of Jacquet and Trulin are in this cemetery (see photos p. [24]).
Return to the Grande Place by the Rue de Roubaix, Rue des Ponts-de-Comines and Rue Faidherbe.
ROUBAIX-TOURCOING
From Lille to Roubaix and Tourcoing, via the Boulevard des Trois Villes.
Total Distance, including return journey: 16 miles.
ROUBAIX, one of France's chief industrial centres, is of very ancient origin. The first important mention of it in history, however, only goes back to the 15th century (1469), when one, Peter of Roubaix, obtained permission from Charles the Bald to manufacture cloth. It was occupied and sacked several times by foreign invaders. In 1792 it was taken by the Austrians, in 1794 by the English, and in 1914 by the Germans.
In 1554, Roubaix, which had become a rival to Lille, obtained permission from Charles Quint and later (1609) from the Council of the Arch-Dukes of Austria, to manufacture velvet, fustian and common grey linen cloth.
A decree of the State Council in 1762, granting similar privileges to all the parishes, was the subject of long lawsuits, which were decided against Lille.