Bazenville

Bazenville
An old barn in Bazenville
Bazenville
Location within Lower Normandy region  Bazenville
Coordinates: 49°18′13″N 0°35′06″W / 49.3036°N 0.585°WCoordinates: 49°18′13″N 0°35′06″W / 49.3036°N 0.585°W
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Calvados
Arrondissement	Bayeux
Canton	Ryes
Intercommunality	Bessin, Seulles et Mer
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Marcel Dubois
Area^1	4.07 km^2 (1.57 sq mi)
Population (2012)^2	145
• Density	36/km^2 (92/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	14049 / 14480
Elevation	53–67 m (174–220 ft) (avg. 30 m or 98 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. ^2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Bazenville is a French commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France.^[1]

Bazenville Airfield was a former World War II Advanced Landing Ground, mostly located outside the commune of Bazenville 1.8 km to the north-east.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bazenvillais or Bazenvillaises.^[2]

Geography

Bazenville is located some 6 km east by north-east of Bayeux and 4 km south by south-east of Arromanches-les-Bains. Access to the commune is by the D87 road from Ryes in the north-west which passes through the commune south of the village and continues south-east to Villiers-le-Sec. The D112 from Sommervieu to Crépon forms the north-western border of the commune. Apart from the village there is the hamlet of Les Noyaux. There is a British Military Cemetery in the west of the commune on the D87. The commune is entirely farmland.^[3][4]

Mapping

A list of online mapping systems can be displayed by clicking on the coordinates (latitude and longitude) in the top right hand corner of this article.

Neighbouring communes and villages

^[3]

Toponymy

Bazonille is mentioned as Basonni villa in 875.

Bazenville appears as Bazanville on the 1750 Cassini Map^[5] and as Bazan ville on the 1790 version.^[6]

History

Wing Commander James "Johnny" Johnson at Bazenville Normandy 31 July 1944

Bazenville was liberated on the same day as the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. An interim Canadian aerodrome (referred to as Bazenville Airfield, Advanced Landing Ground B-2 Bazenville, or B-2 Crépon) was built commencing the following night near the commune in a large part of the triangle formed by the Bazenville, Crépon, and Villiers-le-Sec villages.^[7]

It was on this aerodrome that the French ace Pierre Clostermann flew, on 11 June 1944, for the first time in France after his entry into the war in 1942: "All my life I will remember the people of Bazenville the first French to whom I spoke".^[8]

Administration

List of Successive Mayors^[9]

From	To	Name	Party	Position
2001	2005	Pierre Vallerend		Farmer
2005	2020	Marcel Dubois		Retired

(Not all data is known)

Demography

In 2012 the commune had 145 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known from the population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. From the 21st century, a census of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger communes that have a sample survey every year.^{[Note 1]}

Population Change (See database)

1793	1800	1806	1821	1831	1836	1841	1846	1851
381	321	411	409	371	370	361	362	338

1856	1861	1866	1872	1876	1881	1886	1891	1896
328	316	302	291	283	272	251	229	228

1901	1906	1911	1921	1926	1931	1936	1946	1954
216	200	181	146	153	173	172	192	177

1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2007	2012	-
196	177	149	164	145	144	146	145	-

Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1962, INSEE database from 1968 (population without double counting and municipal population from 2006)

Culture and heritage

Civil heritage

• A Commemorative plaque remembering the site of the airfield where Pierre Clostermann arrived on 11 June 1944.

The commune has many buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:

• A Farmhouse at Rue des Alliés (1759)^[10]
• A Tradesman's house at Rue des Cordiers (19th century)^[11]
• The Bazenville Farmhouse at Rue de l'Eglise (17th century)^[12]
• A House at Rue de l'Eglise (18th century)^[13]
• A Notable's House at Rue de l'Eglise (18th century)^[14]
• The Chateau of Bazenville at Rue de la Grotte (17th century)^[15]
• The Manor of Tournebu at Rue des Noyaux (17th century)^[16]
• A Worker's House at Route de Villiers-le-Sec (19th century)^[17]
• The Chateau de la Croix at Route de Villiers-le-Sec (1727)^[18]
• The British Cemetery of Ryes (20th century).^[19] The cemetery contains 979 graves: 630 British, 21 Canadians, one Australian, one Pole, and 326 Germans.
• The War Memorial (1929)^[20]
• The Grotto of Lourdes (1947)^[21]
• Bazenville Village (Ancient times)^[22]
• Houses (17th-19th century)^[23]

Religious heritage

The commune has several religious buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:

• A Presbytery at Rue de l'Eglise (19th century)^[24]
• The Parish Church of Saint-Martin at le Bourg (13th century)^[25] The Church contains a large number of objects which are registered as historical objects. For a complete list with links to descriptions (in French and some photos click here.

Heritage Picture Gallery

• 

  The British Military Cemetery in Bazenville

• 

  The Chateau of Bazenville

• 

  The Grotto of Lourdes

• 

  The Church of Saint Martin

• 

  The Chateau de la Croix

The War Cemetery

Notable people linked to the commune

• Antoine Halley, born in 1593 at Bazenville died in 1675, poet.

See also

• Communes of the Calvados department

Notes and references

Notes

1. At the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of identification have been modified by Law No. 2002-276 of 27 February 2002, the so-called "law of local democracy" and in particular Title V "census operations" allows, after a transitional period running from 2004 to 2008, the annual publication of the legal population of the different French administrative districts. For communes with a population greater than 10,000 inhabitants, a sample survey is conducted annually and the entire territory of these communes is taken into account at the end of the period of five years. The first "legal population" after 1999 under this new law came into force on 1 January 2009 and was based on the census of 2006.

References

1. Bazenville on Lion1906
2. Inhabitants of Calvados (French)
3. Bazenville on Google Maps
4. Bazenville on the Géoportail from National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (French)
5. Bazanville on the 1750 Cassini Map
6. Bazan ville on the 1790 Cassini Map
7. Abandoned Airfields in Lower Normandy (Dutch)
8. Claude Quétel (under the direction of), Dictionary of the Landings, éditions Ouest-France, Rennes, 2011, 725 pages, p. 174 "Clostermann (Pierre)", ISBN 978-2-7373-4826-6 (French)
9. List of Mayors of France (French)
10. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121792 Farmhouse at Rue des Alliés (French)
11. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121788 Tradesman's house at Rue des Cordiers (French)
12. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121785 'Bazenville Farmhouse at Rue de l'Eglise (French)
13. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121789 House at Rue de l'Eglise (French)
14. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121790 Notable's House at Rue de l'Eglise (French)
15. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121783 Chateau of Bazenville (French)
16. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121786 Manor of Tournebu (French)
17. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121791 Worker's House at Route de Villiers-le-Sec (French)
18. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121784 Chateau de la Croix (French)
19. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121793 British Cemetery of Ryes (French)
20. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121782 War Memorial (French)
21. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121781 Grotto of Lourdes (French)
22. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121779 Bazenville Village (French)
23. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121778 Houses (French)
24. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121787 Presbytery at Rue de l'Eglise (French)
25. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121780 PA00111069 Church of Saint-Martin (French)