Beuvry

French commune
name= Beuvry
region=
departement=
arrondissement=Béthune
canton= Noeux-les-Mines
insee=62126
cp=62660
maire= Nadine Lefebvre
mandat= 2008-2014
intercomm=Communauté d'agglomération de l'Artois
longitude=2.68027777778
latitude=50.5205555556
alt moy=32 m
alt mini= m
alt maxi= m
hectares=1685
km²=16,85
sans=9175
date-sans=1999
dens=544|

Beuvry is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais "département" in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

Geography

A suburban town immediately southwest of Béthune, convert|23|mi|km|1 southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D945, D72 and N41 roads. Light industry and a little farming have replaced the coal mining of the past.

History

The town’s name comes from ‘beaver’ (in Old French, ‘bièvre’) and underwent variations on this over the centuries: Berri; Beuvri; Bevery; Bouvry and finally Beuvry.
The town has been awarded the Croix de Guerre twice: after World War I and again, after World War II.
A coal-mining town for about 100 years, the last pit closed in the 1960s.
The town was merged with the nearby city of Bethune at the end of 1993. However, many of the Beuvrygeois voiced their dissatisfaction with the decision at the time, which resulted in the municipal elections of 1995, petitions in 1995 and 1996 and the creation, in October 1996, of a special commission to give an opinion on draft amendments to the territorial limits of the city of Bethune for the re-creation of a separate town of Beuvry. The municipal election in September 1997 led to a de-merger and Beuvry became an independent fully-fledged town again in November 1997.

Population

Places of interest

* The church of St.Martin, dating from the 16th century.
* An old windmill
* The Prévôté building (once belonging to an abbey)..
* The 16th century Manor of l'Estracelles.
* An 18th century chateau.
* The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.

Twinned with

flagicon|GER Hemer, Germany.

See also

Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

External links

* [http://histoire.beuvry.free.fr/accueil.htm A website about the history of Beuvry] fr
* [http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=31304&mode=1 The CWGC cemetery]
* [http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=65500&mode=1 The Gorre CWGC cemetery]
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=detail&id=26624&req=Beuvry Beuvry on the Quid website] fr

Notes

*"This article is based on the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted on July 11th 2008."