Laires

Laires
Commune
The road into Laires

Coat of arms
Laires
Location within Hauts-de-France region
Laires
Coordinates: 50°32′28″N 2°15′23″E / 50.5411°N 2.2564°E / 50.5411; 2.2564Coordinates: 50°32′28″N 2°15′23″E / 50.5411°N 2.2564°E / 50.5411; 2.2564
Country France
Region Hauts-de-France
Department Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement Saint-Omer
Canton Fruges
Intercommunality Pays de Saint-Omer
Government
 • Mayor Bernadette Franche
Area1 8.64 km2 (3.34 sq mi)
Population (2006)2 306
 • Density 35/km2 (92/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code 62485 /62960
Elevation 140–190 m (460–620 ft)
(avg. 182 m or 597 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.

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

Geography

A village situated 15 miles (24 km) south of Saint-Omer, on the D95 road.

Its surrounded by the common Beaumetz-lès-Aire, Erny-Saint-Julien and Laires. Bomy is located 19 km southwest of Saint-Omer's largest city around.[1]

Population

Historical population of Laires
Year1962196819751982199019992006
Population335347302314337297306
From the year 1962 on: No double counting—residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) are counted only once.

History

In 734, Laires was called "Wilbert", after its owner. The spelling of the name has changed over the centuries from Larae, Laris, Lares, Laire and Lare, to become Laires by the eighteenth century. In 1115, Baldwin VII, Count of Flanders, made a gift of the village to the abbey of St Saviour at Ham. In January 1478, a band of soldiers from the Burgundian garrison at Renescure terrorized the area around Laires. Instead of helping people to fight the "French enemy" they looted the village. Against the Spanish, the commune suffered again. In 1537 the area was completely devastated. In 1542 and 1543, the village was looted several times and fourteen French houses were burned down.

Places of interest

  • The church of St.Martin, dating from the fifteenth century.
  • The war memorial, from 1921.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Annuaire-Mairie"
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