Bailleul, Nord

Bailleul Belle
Market place and belfry of Bailleul
Coat of arms
Bailleul
Location within Hauts-de-France region  Bailleul
Coordinates: 50°44′21″N 2°44′00″E / 50.7392°N 2.7333°ECoordinates: 50°44′21″N 2°44′00″E / 50.7392°N 2.7333°E
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Nord
Arrondissement	Dunkerque
Canton	Bailleul-Nord-Est and Bailleul-Sud-Ouest
Intercommunality	Monts de Flandres - Plaine de la Lys
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Michel Giloen
Area^1	43.42 km^2 (16.76 sq mi)
Population (2009)^2	13,989
• Density	320/km^2 (830/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+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.

Location of Bailleul in the arrondissement of Dunkirk

Bailleul (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

Population of Bailleul since 1793
Year	Pop.	±%
1793	11,576	—
1800	8,944	−22.7%
1806	9,222	+3.1%
1821	9,475	+2.7%
1831	9,823	+3.7%
1836	9,911	+0.9%
1841	9,923	+0.1%
1846	10,141	+2.2%
1851	10,078	−0.6%
1856	10,108	+0.3%
1861	10,102	−0.1%
1866	12,896	+27.7%
1872	12,828	−0.5%
1876	12,968	+1.1%
1881	12,712	−2.0%
1886	13,335	+4.9%
1891	13,276	−0.4%
1896	13,449	+1.3%
1901	13,530	+0.6%
1906	13,573	+0.3%
1911	13,251	−2.4%
1921	6,651	−49.8%
1926	8,545	+28.5%
1931	9,691	+13.4%
1936	10,928	+12.8%
1946	11,352	+3.9%
1954	11,964	+5.4%
1962	12,583	+5.2%
1968	13,077	+3.9%
1975	13,474	+3.0%
1982	13,400	−0.5%
1990	13,847	+3.3%
1999	14,136	+2.1%
2006	13,616	−3.7%
2009	13,989	+2.7%

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

• Jardin des Plantes Sauvages du Conservatoire botanique national de Bailleul

Railways

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

International relations

Bailleul is twinned with:

• Werne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany since 1967
• Hawick, Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK since 1973
• Izegem, West Flanders, Belgium since 1992
• Yaka, Togo
• Kyritz, Brandenburg, Germany since 2012

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

References

• INSEE commune file
• Bailleul city