Bazenville

Bazenville (French pronunciation: [bazɑ̃vil] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France.^[3]

Bazenville
Commune
An old barn in Bazenville
Coat of arms
Location of Bazenville
Bazenville Show map of France Bazenville Show map of Normandy
Coordinates: 49°18′13″N 0°35′06″W
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Calvados
Arrondissement	Bayeux
Canton	Courseulles-sur-Mer
Intercommunality	CC Seulles Terre Mer
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Marcel Dubois[1]
Area 1	4.07 km2 (1.57 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	144
• Density	35/km2 (92/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
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.

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.^[4]

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.^[5][6]

Toponymy

Bazonille is mentioned as Basonni villa in 875.

Bazenville appears as Bazanville on the 1750 Cassini Map^[7] and as Bazan ville on the 1790 version.^[8]

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.^[9]

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".^[10]

Administration

List of Successive Mayors^[11]

From	To	Name	Party	Position
2001	2005	Pierre Vallerend		Farmer
2005	2026	Marcel Dubois		Retired

Demography

In 2017 the commune had 137 inhabitants.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 381 —     1800 321 −2.42% 1806 411 +4.21% 1821 409 −0.03% 1831 371 −0.97% 1836 370 −0.05% 1841 361 −0.49% 1846 362 +0.06% 1851 338 −1.36% 1856 328 −0.60% 1861 316 −0.74% 1866 302 −0.90% 1872 291 −0.62% 1876 283 −0.69% 1881 272 −0.79% 1886 251 −1.59% 1891 229 −1.82% 1896 228 −0.09%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 216 −1.08% 1906 200 −1.53% 1911 181 −1.98% 1921 146 −2.13% 1926 153 +0.94% 1931 173 +2.49% 1936 172 −0.12% 1946 192 +1.11% 1954 177 −1.01% 1962 196 +1.28% 1968 177 −1.69% 1975 149 −2.43% 1982 164 +1.38% 1990 145 −1.53% 1999 144 −0.08% 2007 146 +0.17% 2012 145 −0.14% 2017 137 −1.13%
Source: EHESS[12] and INSEE[13]

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)^[14]
• A Tradesman's house at Rue des Cordiers (19th century)^[15]
• The Bazenville Farmhouse at Rue de l'Eglise (17th century)^[16]
• A House at Rue de l'Eglise (18th century)^[17]
• A Notable's House at Rue de l'Eglise (18th century)^[18]
• The Chateau of Bazenville at Rue de la Grotte (17th century)^[19]
• The Manor of Tournebu at Rue des Noyaux (17th century)^[20]
• A Worker's House at Route de Villiers-le-Sec (19th century)^[21]
• The Chateau de la Croix at Route de Villiers-le-Sec (1727)^[22]
• The British Cemetery of Ryes (20th century).^[23] The cemetery contains 979 graves: 630 British, 21 Canadians, one Australian, one Pole, and 326 Germans.
• The War Memorial (1929)^[24]
• The Grotto of Lourdes (1947)^[25]
• Bazenville Village (Ancient times)^[26]
• Houses (17th-19th century)^[27]

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)^[28]
• The Parish Church of Saint-Martin at le Bourg (13th century)^[29][30] The Church contains a large number of objects which are registered as historical objects.^[29][30]

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