Vendhuile () 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

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.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, ...

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 ...

in northern

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 ...

.Commune de Vendhuile (02776)
INSEE It received the

Croix de guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

for its suffering in

World War I 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

The hamlet of La Terrière, just under to the northeast, which includes around forty houses and a church, is part of Vendhuile as to , and the rest is in the commune of

Honnecourt-sur-Escaut Honnecourt-sur-Escaut (, literally '' Honnecourt on Escaut'') is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of ...

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

Town planning

According to the terms of Insee and its zoning published in 2020, Vendhuile is a rural municipality, as it does not belong to any

urban unit In France, an urban unit (''fr: "unité urbaine"'') is a statistical area defined by INSEE, the French national statistics office, for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. According to the INSEE definition , an "unité urbaine" is a ...

. The municipality is part of the functional area (''aire d'attraction'', commuting zone) of Saint-Quentin.

History

Toponymy

Soldile appears in 1148 under the name of Vendulia in a cartulary of the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Martin then Vendulium, Soldile, Soldille, Soldile-en-l'Empire, Vendhuille-Cambrésis, Vendhuille sur Cambrésis, Vendhuille on the

Cassini map The Cassini Map or Academy's Map is the first topographic and geometric map made of the Kingdom of France as a whole. It was compiled by the Cassini family, mainly César-François Cassini (Cassini III) and his son Jean-Dominique Cassini (Ca ...

around 1750, and the current Vendhuile spelling at the end of the 18th century.

18th century map

The pre-Revolutionary Cassini map above shows that Vendhuile lying on the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

(Escaut). A water mill symbolized by a toothed wheel was on the river. To the north, La Terrière is a hamlet (subsidiary place without a church).

World War I

Due to the commune's involvement in the first world war the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

set up Unicorn Cemetery in the commune where allied soldiers who fought in WW1 are buried, among them is

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

recipient

Lawrence Weathers Lawrence Carthage Weathers, (14 May 1890 – 29 September 1918) was a New Zealand-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in battle that could be awarded to a member of the Australian armed forces at t ...

Politics and administration

The commune of Vendhuile is a member of the Intercommunalité of Pays du Vermandois, a Public Establishment for Inter-municipal Cooperation (EPCI) with its own tax system created on 31 December 1993 whose head office is at

Bellicourt Bellicourt () is a commune in the department of Aisne in Hauts-de-France in northern France. It lies on the N44 road between Cambrai and Saint-Quentin and over the principal tunnel of the St. Quentin Canal. It was the site of numerous intense c ...

. The latter is also a member of other inter-municipal groupings. Administratively, it is in the

arrondissement of Saint-Quentin The arrondissement of Saint-Quentin is an arrondissement of France in the Aisne department in the Hauts-de-France region. It has 126 communes. Its population is 128,958 (2016), and its area is . Composition The communes of the arrondissement of S ...

, in the

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, ...

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

References

Sources

* {{authority control Communes of Aisne