Laventie Wentie | |
|---|---|
 The church and town hall of Laventie | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Location of Laventie | |
  Laventie  Laventie | |
| Coordinates:50°37′42″N2°46′19″E / 50.6283°N 2.7719°E /50.6283; 2.7719 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Hauts-de-France |
| Department | Pas-de-Calais |
| Arrondissement | Béthune |
| Canton | Beuvry |
| Intercommunality | Flandre Lys |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–2026) | Jean-Philippe Boonaert[1] |
Area 1 | 18.13 km2 (7.00 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[2] | 5,007 |
| • Density | 276.2/km2 (715.3/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 62491 /62840 |
| Elevation | 15–20 m (49–66 ft) (avg. 18 m or 59 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Laventie (French pronunciation:[lavɑ̃ti];West Flemish:Wentie) is acommune in thePas-de-Calaisdepartment in theHauts-de-France region ofFrance.[3]
A small farming and light industrial town, situated some 10 miles (16 km) northeast ofBéthune and 12 miles (19 km) west ofLille, at the junction of the D166, D173 and D174 roads. Famous for itscherries.
_(Art.IWM_ART_15661).jpg)
InWorld War I, like other settlements inPas-de-Calais, Laventie was heavily fought over betweenGerman andAllied forces. From 1915, there was constant underground fighting in the area, in which units like the173rd,3rd Australian and255thTunnelling Companies RE were involved.[4]Laventie is the title of a poem by the war poet and composerIvor Gurney.
The artistEric Kennington was stationed at Laventie with his unit, the1/13th Battalion, London Regiment (Kensington), in the winter of 1914–15. After being wounded and evacuated he painted members of his platoon in the snowy village street. The painting,The Kensingtons at Laventie, considered by many to be his most important work, is in the collection of theImperial War Museum, London.[5]
The engineer and inventor of the Hortag agricultural spade, A S Bullock, also recalls action at Laventie in a posthumously published memoir (written in the 1970s). In particular he recalls how the area near the old fortifications was defended not by trenches (because the water table was too high) but by barbed wire entanglements, and he recounts the experience of being ordered to march across this barbed wire and take up position in a former distillery, as well as subsequently volunteering for the near-impossible task of returning to the battalion alone and taking a message back to the platoon during the night.[6]
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 2,909 | — |
| 1975 | 2,877 | −0.16% |
| 1982 | 3,415 | +2.48% |
| 1990 | 4,410 | +3.25% |
| 1999 | 4,383 | −0.07% |
| 2007 | 4,745 | +1.00% |
| 2012 | 4,924 | +0.74% |
| 2017 | 4,994 | +0.28% |
| Source: INSEE[7] | ||
(in French)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
