Esquelbecq (; from ) is a commune in the

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 televis ...

department in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. Its southern limit with

Ledringhem Ledringhem ( vls, Ledringem) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated also in the ancient territory of the County of Flanders, in the '' Houtland'' (or ''woodland'', with the cities of Cassel and Hazebrouck) in the ...

is ''chemin de Rubrouck''.

Heraldry

History

In 1436, Wautier de Ghistelles was ''seigneur d'Ekelsbeke et de Ledringhem'' (Lord of Esquelbecq and

) and governor of ''La Madeleine'' hospital in Bierne. The

Wormhoudt massacre The Wormhoudt massacre (or Wormhout massacre) was the mass murder of 81 British and French POWs by Waffen-SS soldiers from the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler during the Battle of France in May 1940. Fighting As part of the Brit ...

was perpetrated near Esquelbecq on 80 British and French

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from th ...

members at the time of the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the n ...

in 1940.

Church and organ

The church on the village square is dedicated to

Folcwin Saint Folcwin ( la, Folquinus, Folcwinus, Folcvinus; Old Dutch: ''*Folkwin''; French : Folquin, date of birth unknown, died 855 AD in Esquelbecq) was a Frankish abbot, cleric and Bishop of Thérouanne (appointed 816). He was a contemporary of ...

, who died at Esquelbecq in 855 CE. It is a

hall church A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an arc ...

of the ''hallekerk'' type characteristic of the region, with three naves of equal length, width, and height. The interior and roof were destroyed by a fire in 1976, but the external appearance is still substantially as it was in 1610, with an attractive lozenge pattern in the brickwork. The present church organ, by Marc Garnier (who also built an organ for the Elgar Concert Hall at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

), was built after the fire. It is modelled on the designs prevalent in Flanders in the 17th century and is "mesotonic" – tuned so that pieces from that era can be played in

meantone temperament Meantone temperament is a musical temperament, that is a tuning system, obtained by narrowing the fifths so that their ratio is slightly less than 3:2 (making them ''narrower'' than a perfect fifth), in order to push the thirds closer to pure. Me ...

.http://www.cote-dopale.com/tourisme/eglise-d-esquelbecq/ Côte d'Opale tourisme - Eglise d'Esquelbecq; Retrieved 14 July 2018

Transportation

Esquelbecq is served by a railway station.

Heraldry

History

Church and organ

Transportation

See also