Bazenville (French pronunciation: [bazɑ̃vil] (
listen)) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France.[3]
Bazenville | |
|---|---|
Commune | |
An old barn in Bazenville | |
|
Coat of arms | |
Location of Bazenville ![]() | |
Bazenville Bazenville | |
| Coordinates: 49°18′13″N 0°35′06″W | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Normandy |
| Department | Calvados |
| Arrondissement | Bayeux |
| Canton | Courseulles-sur-Mer |
| Intercommunality | Seulles Terre et Mer |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Marcel Dubois[1] |
| Area 1 | 4.07 km2 (1.57 sq mi) |
| Population | 139 |
| • Density | 34/km2 (88/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 14049 /14480 |
| Elevation | 53–67 m (174–220 ft) (avg. 30 m or 98 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Bazenville Airfield was a former World War II Advanced Landing Ground, mostly located outside the commune of Bazenville 1.8 km to the north-east.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bazenvillais or Bazenvillaises.[4]
Bazenville is located some 6 km east by north-east of Bayeux and 4 km south by south-east of Arromanches-les-Bains. Access to the commune is by the D87 road from Ryes in the north-west which passes through the commune south of the village and continues south-east to Villiers-le-Sec. The D112 from Sommervieu to Crépon forms the north-western border of the commune. Apart from the village there is the hamlet of Les Noyaux. There is a British Military Cemetery in the west of the commune on the D87. The commune is entirely farmland.[5][6]
Neighbouring communes and villages[5] | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||
Bazonille is mentioned as Basonni villa in 875.
Bazenville appears as Bazanville on the 1750 Cassini Map[7] and as Bazan ville on the 1790 version.[8]

Bazenville was liberated on the same day as the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. An interim Canadian aerodrome (referred to as Bazenville Airfield, Advanced Landing Ground B-2 Bazenville, or B-2 Crépon) was built commencing the following night near the commune in a large part of the triangle formed by the Bazenville, Crépon, and Villiers-le-Sec villages.[9]
It was on this aerodrome that the French ace Pierre Clostermann flew, on 11 June 1944, for the first time in France after his entry into the war in 1942: "All my life I will remember the people of Bazenville the first French to whom I spoke".[10]
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2021) |
List of Successive Mayors[11]
| From | To | Name | Party | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2005 | Pierre Vallerend | Farmer | |
| 2005 | 2026 | Marcel Dubois | Retired |
In 2017 the commune had 137 inhabitants.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source: EHESS[12] and INSEE[13] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The commune has many buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:
The commune has several religious buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:
