Longueval

Longueval
Commune
South African Commemorative Museum
Longueval
Location within Hauts-de-France region
Longueval
Coordinates: 50°01′34″N 2°48′15″E / 50.0261°N 2.8042°E / 50.0261; 2.8042Coordinates: 50°01′34″N 2°48′15″E / 50.0261°N 2.8042°E / 50.0261; 2.8042
Country France
Region Hauts-de-France
Department Somme
Arrondissement Péronne
Canton Péronne
Intercommunality Haute Somme
Government
 • Mayor (2001–2008) Jean Blondel
Area1 8.53 km2 (3.29 sq mi)
Population (2006)2 271
 • Density 32/km2 (82/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code 80490 /80360
Elevation 123–157 m (404–515 ft)
(avg. 150 m or 490 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.

Longueval is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

Geography

Longueval is located 38 km (24 mi) northwest of Amiens on the D919 road, at the junction with the D8. Longueval is found in the north-east of the département, almost equidistant to the surrounding towns of Péronne (to the east), Albert (west) and Bapaume (north).

Population

Population history
1962196819751982199019992006
301307267278237248271
Starting in 1962: Population without duplicates

Heraldry

 The coat of arms of the community were derived from the House of Longueval, Counts of Buquoy (later Bucquoy),[1] and are blazoned as:

Barry of six pieces vair and gules.

History

The main street in 1916

The village was virtually destroyed during World War I.

Caterpillar Valley Cemetery

A cemetery [2] in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has 214 New Zealand graves from the Battle of the Somme among the over 5000 graves, of which 3800 were unidentified. There is a Memorial to the Missing from New Zealand, recording the names of 1272 men lost in 1916 (eight have since been identified and buried, including the All Black Bobby Black).[3] The body for the New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was taken from here. South of Longueval is the Longueval Road Cemetery. In the centre of the village is the Pipers' Memorial, built to commemorate bagpipers who fought in the First World War. Longueval was chosen because it was retaken by the 9th (Scottish) Division in July 1916. To the east of the village is the South African War Memorial Delville Wood.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Armorial universel: précédé d'un traité complet de la science du ..., Volume 2; By Joseph Louis Edouard Jouffroy d'Eschavannes, page 274.
  2. ↑ Caterpillar Valley Cemetery at CWGC website
  3. ↑ McGibbon, Ian (2001). New Zealand Battlefields and Memorials of the Western Front. Auckland: Oxford University Press. pp. 58, 83.
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