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.
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.
{{Geographic location
|width=auto
|Centre = Bazenville
|North = Meuvaines
|Northeast = Crépon
|East =
|Southeast = Villiers-le-Sec
|South = Le Manoir
|Southwest =
|West = Sommervieu
|Northwest = Ryes
}}Toponymy
Bazonille is mentioned as Basonni villa in 875.
Bazenville appears as Bazanville on the 1750 Cassini Map[6] and as Bazan ville on the 1790 version.[7]
History
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.[2]
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".[3]
Administration
List of Successive Mayors[4]| 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.[5]
{{clear}}{{Table Population Town}}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){{Mérimée Icon}}[6]
- A Tradesman's house at Rue des Cordiers (19th century){{Mérimée Icon}}[7]
- The Bazenville Farmhouse at Rue de l'Eglise (17th century){{Mérimée Icon}}[8]
- A House at Rue de l'Eglise (18th century){{Mérimée Icon}}[9]
- A Notable's House at Rue de l'Eglise (18th century){{Mérimée Icon}}[10]
- The Chateau of Bazenville at Rue de la Grotte (17th century){{Mérimée Icon}}[11]
- The Manor of Tournebu at Rue des Noyaux (17th century){{Mérimée Icon}}[12]
- A Worker's House at Route de Villiers-le-Sec (19th century){{Mérimée Icon}}[13]
- The Chateau de la Croix at Route de Villiers-le-Sec (1727){{Mérimée Icon}}[14]
- The British Cemetery of Ryes (20th century).{{Mérimée Icon}}[15] The cemetery contains 979 graves: 630 British, 21 Canadians, one Australian, one Pole, and 326 Germans.
- The War Memorial (1929){{Mérimée Icon}}[16]
- The Grotto of Lourdes (1947){{Mérimée Icon}}[17]
- Bazenville Village (Ancient times){{Mérimée Icon}}[18]
- Houses (17th-19th century){{Mérimée Icon}}[19]
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){{Mérimée Icon}}[20]
- The Parish Church of Saint-Martin at le Bourg (13th century){{Mérimée Icon}}[21] 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
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. ^Inhabitants of Calvados {{Fr icon}}
2. ^Abandoned Airfields in Lower Normandy {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111702/http://www.ronaldv.nl/abandoned/airfields/FR/lowernormandy/calvados.html#bazenville |date=March 4, 2016 }} {{nl icon}}
3. ^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}} {{Fr icon}}
4. ^List of Mayors of France {{Fr icon}}
5. ^At the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of identification have been modified by [https://web.archive.org/web/20160306074946/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000593100 Law No. 2002-276 of 27 February 2002] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306074946/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000593100 |date=6 March 2016 }}, 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.
6. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121792|IA00121792 Farmhouse at Rue des Alliés}} {{Fr icon}}
7. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121788|IA00121788 Tradesman's house at Rue des Cordiers}} {{Fr icon}}
8. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121785|IA00121785 'Bazenville Farmhouse at Rue de l'Eglise}} {{Camera}} {{Fr icon}}
9. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121789|IA00121789 House at Rue de l'Eglise}} {{Fr icon}}
10. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121790|IA00121790 Notable's House at Rue de l'Eglise}} {{Camera}} {{Fr icon}}
11. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121783|IA00121783 Chateau of Bazenville}} {{Fr icon}}
12. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121786|IA00121786 Manor of Tournebu}} {{Camera}} {{Fr icon}}
13. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121791|IA00121791 Worker's House at Route de Villiers-le-Sec}} {{Fr icon}}
14. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121784|IA00121784 Chateau de la Croix}} {{Fr icon}}
15. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121793|IA00121793 British Cemetery of Ryes}} {{Fr icon}}
16. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121782|IA00121782 War Memorial}} {{Fr icon}}
17. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121781|IA00121781 Grotto of Lourdes}} {{Fr icon}}
18. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121779|IA00121779 Bazenville Village}} {{Camera}} {{Fr icon}}
19. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121778|IA00121778 Houses}} {{Camera}} {{Fr icon}}
20. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121787|IA00121787 Presbytery at Rue de l'Eglise}} {{Camera}} {{Fr icon}}
21. ^Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|IA00121780|IA00121780 }}{{Mérimée|PA00111069|PA00111069 Church of Saint-Martin}} {{Camera}} {{Fr icon}}
22. ^1 Bazanville on the 1750 Cassini Map
23. ^1 Bazan ville on the 1790 Cassini Map
References