Estrée-Blanche

Estrée-Blanche
Estrée-Blanche
Location within Hauts-de-France region  Estrée-Blanche
Coordinates: 50°35′38″N 2°19′19″E / 50.5939°N 2.3219°ECoordinates: 50°35′38″N 2°19′19″E / 50.5939°N 2.3219°E
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Béthune
Canton	Norrent-Fontes
Intercommunality	Artois Flandres
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Bernard Delétré
Area^1	5.32 km^2 (2.05 sq mi)
Population (1999)^2	928
• Density	170/km^2 (450/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code	62313 / 62145
Elevation	37–99 m (121–325 ft) (avg. 43 m or 141 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.

Estrée-Blanche is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

History

Indian Cavalry were stationed at Estrée-Blanche during the First World War

Geography

The miners’ houses in the village

A farming village some 12 miles (19.3 km) to the northwest of Béthune and 30 miles (48.3 km) west of Lille, at the junction of the D341, D186 and the D159 roads. The small rivers Surgeon and Laquette converge at the commune.

Estrée-Blanche is found at the extreme edge of the coal-mining area of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Part of its surface area was owned by the mining company, which ceased in the 1960s. All that remains of that era are some typical miners' houses.

It is one of many villages in the north of France bearing the name Estrées. The etymology of the name is from strata (cognate of English "street"), the word for the stone-layered Roman roads in the area (some of which turned into modern highways). Hence Estreti, village on the road which developed into Estrées.

Population

Historical population of Estrée-Blanche

Year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999
Population	1022	1093	1068	1005	988	928
From the year 1962 on: No double counting—residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) are counted only once.

Places of interest

• The church of St.Vaast, dating from the sixteenth century.
• The fifteenth-century chateau de Crémenil, built by the Le May family in 1443

• 
  The château from the west
• 
  The rear courtyard
• 
  The towers and drawbridge
• 
  The château entrance

See also

• Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

References

• INSEE commune file

External links

• Estrée-Blanche on the Quid website (French)