Laires

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Coordinates: 50°32′28″N 2°15′23″E / 50.5411111111, 2.25638888889

Administration
Commune of Laires
Location

Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Saint-Omer
Canton	Fauquembergues
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes du Canton de Fauquembergues
Mayor	Bernadette Franche
Statistics
Elevation	140 m–190 m (avg. 182 m)
Land area^¹	8,64 km²
Population^² (1999)	297
- Density	34/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	62485/ 62960
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

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

1 Geography
2 Population
3 History
4 Places of interest
5 See also
6 External links
7 Notes

[edit] Geography

A village situated 15 miles (24km) south of Saint-Omer, on the D95 road.

[edit] Population

Population Evolution
1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999
335	347	302	314	337	297
Census count starting from 1962 : Population without double counting

[edit] 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 and instead of helping people to fight the "French enemy", 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.