Armentières
Armentières
Commune in Hauts-de-France, France
Armentières (French pronunciation: [aʁmɑ̃tjɛʁ]; West Flemish: Armentiers, Picard: Armintîre) is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille.[3]
Armentières
Armentiers | |
|---|---|
The town hall | |
| Coordinates: 50°41′17″N 2°52′52″E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Hauts-de-France |
| Department | Nord |
| Arrondissement | Lille |
| Canton | Armentières |
| Intercommunality | Métropole Européenne de Lille |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Bernard Haesebroeck[1] |
| Area 1 | 6.28 km2 (2.42 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[2] | 25,581 |
| • Density | 4,100/km2 (11,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 59017 /59280 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
The motto of the town is Pauvre mais fière (Poor but proud).
Armentières lies on the Belgian border, northwest of the city of Lille, on the right bank of the river Lys.
In 1668, the town became French, along with most of the rest of French Flanders. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Armentières acquired fame, being the “City of Fabric”. Industrial weaving, spinning and brewing grew in Armentières, benefitting from the presence of water.
Armentières particularly suffered during the World Wars although the town received two Military Crosses, one for World War I and the second for the Second World War and the Legion d'Honneur. In Armentières and the surrounding areas, the military cemeteries are places of remembrance for the casualties of the World Wars. "Mademoiselle from Armentières" was a popular song among Allied soldiers in World War I.
During World War I, in October 1914, the town was the site of the Battle of Armentières. In April 1918, German troops shelled Armentières with mustard gas. British troops were forced to evacuate the area, but the Germans could not enter for two weeks because of the heavy contamination. Witnesses to the bombardment stated that the shelling was so heavy that liquid mustard gas ran in the streets.[4][5]
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| Source: EHESS[6] and INSEE (1968-2017)[7] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Heraldry
| The arms of Armentières are blazoned : Argent a fleur de lys gules and on a chief of the same a sun or and a decrescent of the same.
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Armentières has a railway station on the line from Lille to Calais and Dunkirk.
It was commissioned in 1848 by the Chemins de Fer du Nord (Northern Railway Company). The buildings were completed in 1861.[8]
The station is currently served by TER Hauts-de-France trains, on the routes between Lille-Flandres station and Dunkirk, and between Lille-Flandres and Hazebrouck.[9]
Armentières is twinned with:[10]
Litoměřice, Czech Republic
Osterode am Harz, Germany
Stalybridge, England, United Kingdom
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- Amédée Fournier (1912–1992), cyclist, Olympic medalist
- Jean Maurice Fiey (1914–1995), Church historian and Syriacist
- Dany Boon (born 1966), actor and stand-up comedian
- Martin Terrier (born 1997), footballer
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The belfry of Armentières was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005 as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site, and in recognition of their influence in the rise of municipal power in Europe.[11] The belfry, just like the nearing city hall was designed by the architect Louis Marie Cordonnier and is open for visitors and tourists.[12]
Milady de Winter in The Three Musketeers hides in Armentières and is caught and executed there.
The bawdy song, Mademoiselle from Armentières, was popular amongst British and American troops during World War 1. There are multiple version of the lyrics, that mostly refer to a woman from the town.
- "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
- Heller, Charles E. (September 1984). "Chemical Warfare in World War I: The American Experience, 1917–1918". U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Archived from the original on 4 July 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- "British air raiders" (PDF). nytimes.com. 7 June 1918. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
- Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Armentières, EHESS (in French).
- Site SNCF TER Hauts-de-France, Informations pratiques sur les gares et arrêts : Gare d'Armentières (consulté le 29 janvier 2020).
- "Jumelage". armentieres.fr (in French). Armentières. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
- "Belfries of Belgium and France". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
- "Destination lille Cities and territories". www.visitlilles.com. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- Official website (in French)
- The reconstruction of the town hall of Armentières after WW1 on the website "Remembrance Trails of the Great War in Northern France"