Estrée-Blanche (; vls, Strate) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...

region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

.INSEE commune file
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History

Indian cavalry marching through a French village Estrée Blanche (Photo 24-115) (cropped)

Indian cavalry Indian cavalry is the name collectively given to the Midwest and Eastern American Indians who fought during the American Civil War, most of them on horseback and for the Confederate States of America. Indian units in the CS Armed forces Cherokee ...

were stationed at Estrée-Blanche during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Geography

Estrée-Blanche is a farming village some to the northwest of

Béthune Béthune ( ; archaic and ''Bethwyn'' historically in English) is a city in northern France, sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department. Geography Béthune is located in the former province of Artois. It is situated south-east of Calais, ...

and west of

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

, at the junction of the D341, D186 and the D159 roads. The small rivers Surgeon and

Laquette The Laquette is a river of northern France, right tributary of the Lys. It is long. It flows into the Lys in Aire-sur-la-Lys Aire-sur-la-Lys (, literally ''Aire on the Lys''; vls, Ariën-aan-de-Leie) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais de ...

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 In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

of English "street"), the word for the stone-layered

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

s in the area (some of which turned into modern highways). Hence ''Estreti'', ''village on the road'' which developed into ''Estrées''.

Population

Places of interest

* The church of St.Vaast, dating from the sixteenth century. * The fifteenth-century , built by the Le May family in 1443 Image:creminil.jpg, The château from the west Image:criminil1.jpg, The rear courtyard Image:creminil2.jpg, The towers and

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

Image:creminil3.jpg, The château entrance

History

Geography

Population

Places of interest

See also