Esquelbecq (; from ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Its southern limit with Ledringhem is ''chemin de Rubrouck''.

Population

History

In 1436, Wautier de Ghistelles was ''seigneur d'Ekelsbeke et de Ledringhem'' (Lord of Esquelbecq and Ledringhem) and governor of ''La Madeleine'' hospital in Bierne. The Wormhoudt massacre was perpetrated near Esquelbecq on 80 British and French

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held 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 prisoners of war for a ...

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

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 ...

in 1940.

Heraldry

Church and organ

The church on the village square is dedicated to Folcwin, who died at Esquelbecq in 855 CE. It is a

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

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 in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

), 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 temperaments are musical temperaments; that is, a variety of Musical tuning#Tuning systems, tuning systems constructed, similarly to Pythagorean tuning, as a sequence of equal fifths, both rising and descending, scaled to remain within th ...

.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.

References