Bailleul, Nord

Bailleul Belle
Commune
Market place and belfry of Bailleul
Flag of Bailleul Flag Coat of arms
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardy
Department	Nord
Arrondissement	Dunkerque
Canton	Bailleul
Intercommunality	CC Flandre Intérieure
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Antony Gautier
Area1	43.42 km2 (16.76 sq mi)
Population (Jan. 2018)2
INSEE/Postal code	59043 / 59270
Elevation	14–86 m (46–282 ft) (avg. 44 m or 144 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.

Bailleul (French pronunciation: [bajœl]; Belle in Dutch) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is located in French Flanders, 3 km (2 mi) from the Belgian border and 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Lille.

Population

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 11,576 —     1800 8,944 −3.62% 1806 9,222 +0.51% 1821 9,475 +0.18% 1831 9,823 +0.36% 1836 9,911 +0.18% 1841 9,923 +0.02% 1846 10,141 +0.44% 1851 10,078 −0.12% 1856 10,108 +0.06% 1861 10,102 −0.01% 1866 12,896 +5.00% 1872 12,828 −0.09% 1876 12,968 +0.27% 1881 12,712 −0.40% 1886 13,335 +0.96% 1891 13,276 −0.09% 1896 13,449 +0.26%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 13,530 +0.12% 1906 13,573 +0.06% 1911 13,251 −0.48% 1921 6,651 −6.66% 1926 8,545 +5.14% 1931 9,691 +2.55% 1936 10,928 +2.43% 1946 11,352 +0.38% 1954 11,964 +0.66% 1962 12,583 +0.63% 1968 13,077 +0.64% 1975 13,474 +0.43% 1982 13,400 −0.08% 1990 13,847 +0.41% 1999 14,146 +0.24% 2007 13,496 −0.59% 2012 14,564 +1.53% 2017 14,769 +0.28%
Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968-2017)

Heraldry

The arms of Bailleul are blazoned: Gules, a cross vair.

Media

Bailleul is the birthplace of French filmmaker Bruno Dumont and served as the setting for his first two feature films. This area is also a setting in the Timothy Findley book The Wars.

Carnival

The inhabitants of Bailleul celebrate carnival with five days of processions and other festivities. The carnival has taken place since 1853, when the Philanthropic Company of Bailleul was founded. During the event, a search takes place for the needy ones of the city. The Gargantua Giant chairs the festivities, seated on his float and accompanied by his kitchen boys.

At the end of Shrove Tuesday, after the final procession of around 50 floats, with local groups, brass bands and plenty of confetti, Doctor Francisco Piccolissimo tries to cure the excesses of some inhabitants in an unconventional way in front of the town hall, and the festival continues late into the night in the town's cafés and bars.

Points of interest

The city hall and belfry of Bailleul was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005 as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site, in recognition of their importance in the rise of municipal power in Europe.

The Jardin des Plantes Sauvages du Conservatoire botanique national de Bailleul is a botanical garden of protected plants. Over 850 species of native plants are found in the garden.

History

In 1526, Flanders fell to the Spanish Netherlands by the Treaty of Madrid. Under the reign of Philip II, the first religious problems arose between Flanders and Spain.

In the 17th century, Flanders was a permanent battlefield. Louis XIV reconquered Flanders. As a result, Bailleul reverted to France in 1678.

With the Treaty of Utrecht, Flanders and with it Bailleul fell to Austria in 1713, before both finally passed to France in 1745 after the Battle of Fontenoy and the Treaty of Aachen. Numerous fires marked the history of the city.

From the 17th to the 19th century, the bobbin lace craft developed in Bailleul. (La Maison de la Dentelle bobbin lace museum), a craft for which the town is still known far beyond its borders.

File:Bailleul, 1918 LCCN2014708107.jpg

200px

During First World War, the area around Bailleul was at times heavily affected by the heavy fighting that German and Allied troops engaged in around the nearby Belgian town of Ypres. When German troops used chlorine gas against the Allied troops near Wulverghem (municipality of Heuvelland, Belgium) on 30 April 1916 over a front length of 3.2 kilometres, the resulting toxic gas cloud extended as far as Bailleul. During the German Spring Offensive in Operation Georgette from 13 April 1918, Bailleul with its old Flemish Town Centre was more than 90 percent destroyed. After the severe destruction of the First World War, the town was rebuilt in the Neo-Flemish style during the 20th century. A typical example of the architectural style, which was widespread throughout Flanders, is the town hall of 1932 with its bell tower.

Railways

Bailleul has a railway station on the line from Lille to Calais and Dunkirk.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Bailleul is twinned with:

• Werne, Germany, since 1967
• Hawick, Scotland, United Kingdom, since 1973
• Izegem, Belgium, since 1992
• Kyritz, Germany, since 2012
• Wałcz, Poland, since 2015

Personalities

• Edmond de Coussemaker
• Pharaon de Winter, painter
• Marguerite Yourcenar, academic
• Jean Delobel, politician
• Michel Delebarre, politician
• Bruno Dumont, director and filmmaker
• Philippe Édouard Léon Van Tieghem, Biologist and botanist born in Bailleul in 1839
• Jean-Luc Samyn, jockey in American thoroughbred racing

See also

• Communes of the Nord department
• French Flanders

External links

• Official website