Ervillers

French commune
name= Ervillers
region=
departement=
arrondissement=Arras
canton= Croisilles
insee=62306
cp=62121
maire=Jean-Louis Lebrun
mandat=2008-2014
intercomm=Communauté de communes du Sud Arrageois
longitude=2.82444444444
latitude=50.1616666667
alt moy=98 m
alt mini=77 m
alt maxi=115 m
hectares=713
km²=7,13
sans=449
date-sans=1999
dens=62|

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

Geography

A farming village situated Convert|11|mi|km|1 south of Arras at the junction of the N17, D36 and D9 roads.

History

Prehistoric fossils have been found here, including elephant teeth. Roman objects such as coins, vases, skeletons and evidence of buildings have also been unearthed. This demonstrates that Ervillers was inhabited in Roman times, especially at the place called "Capieau".
The parish was first recorded in the 12th century.
The seigneurie of Ervillers has passed down through the families of Viéville, Lalaing, Egmont, Luxembourg, and Diesbach-Belleroche. On 28 August 1654 Ervillers saw a visit from Louis XIV and the Queen mother, who lunched there while travelling on to Péronne and Arras, where the siege had been lifted by Marshal Turenne.
Ervillers also has several underground shelters. They were probably old quarries and were turned into "muches." One of these underground caves was about 20 meters underground and had 9 rooms, a corridor, a stable and animal pens. Wells provided both ventilation and a water supply.
In December 1870 the Prussians pillaged the village. Ervillers was also the theatre of operations during the Battle of Bapaume (1871) in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
The First World War saw the village suffer total destruction.

Population

Places of interest

* The church of St. Martin, rebuilt, as was most of the village, after World War I.
* The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.

See also

Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

External links

* [http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=62908&mode=1 The CWGC cemetery at Ervillers]
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=detail&id=26908&req=Ervillers Ervillers on the Quid website] fr

Notes

*"This article is based on the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted on June 18th 2008."