Laires

Laires Laren
Commune
The road into Laires
Coat of arms
Laires Laires
Coordinates: 50°32′28″N 2°15′23″E
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Saint-Omer
Canton	Fruges
Intercommunality	Pays de Saint-Omer
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Eric Lagache
Area 1	8.64 km2 (3.34 sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	62485 /62960
Elevation	140–190 m (460–620 ft) (avg. 182 m or 597 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Laires (French pronunciation: ​[lɛʁ]; West Flemish: Laren) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

Geography

A village situated 24 km (15 mi) south of Saint-Omer, on the D95 road. It is surrounded by the communes Beaumetz-lès-Aire, Prédefin and Fléchin.

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	347	—
1975	302	−1.96%
1982	314	+0.56%
1990	337	+0.89%
1999	297	−1.39%
2007	308	+0.46%
2012	359	+3.11%
2017	364	+0.28%
Source: INSEE

History

In 734, Laires was called "Wilbert", after its owner. The spelling of the name has changed over the centuries from Larae, Laris, Lares, Laire and Lare, to become Laires by the eighteenth century. In 1115, Baldwin VII, Count of Flanders, made a gift of the village to the abbey of St Saviour at Ham. In January 1478, a band of soldiers from the Burgundian garrison at Renescure terrorized the area around Laires. Instead of helping people to fight the "French enemy" they looted the village. Against the Spanish, the commune suffered again. In 1537 the area was completely devastated. In 1542 and 1543, the village was looted several times and fourteen French houses were burned down.

Places of interest

• The church of St.Martin, dating from the fifteenth century.
• The war memorial, from 1921.

See also

• Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department