Bazenville is located some 6 km east by north-east of Bayeux and 4 km south by south-east of Arromanches-les-Bains. Access to the commune is by the D87 road from Ryes in the north-west which passes through the commune south of the village and continues south-east to Villiers-le-Sec. The D112 from Sommervieu to Crépon forms the north-western border of the commune. Apart from the village there is the hamlet of Les Noyaux. There is a British Military Cemetery in the west of the commune on the D87. The commune is entirely farmland.
Toponymy
Bazonille is mentioned as Basonni villa in 875. Bazenville appears as Bazanville on the 1750 Cassini Map and as Bazan ville on the 1790 version.
History
Bazenville was liberated on the same day as the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. An interim Canadian aerodrome was built commencing the following night near the commune in a large part of the triangle formed by the Bazenville, Crépon, and Villiers-le-Sec villages. It was on this aerodrome that the French ace Pierre Clostermann flew, on 11 June 1944, for the first time in France after his entry into the war in 1942: "All my life I will remember the people of Bazenville the first French to whom I spoke".
In 2012 the commune had 145 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known from the population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. From the 21st century, a census of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger communes that have a sample survey every year.
Culture and heritage
Civil heritage
A Commemorative plaque remembering the site of the airfield where Pierre Clostermann arrived on 11 June 1944.
The commune has many buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:
The Chateau de la Croix at Route de Villiers-le-Sec
The British Cemetery of Ryes. The cemetery contains 979 graves: 630 British, 21 Canadians, one Australian, one Pole, and 326 Germans.
The War Memorial
The Grotto of Lourdes
Bazenville Village
Houses
Religious heritage
The commune has several religious buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:
A Presbytery at Rue de l'Eglise
The Parish Church of Saint-Martin at le Bourg The Church contains a large number of objects which are registered as historical objects. For a complete list with links to descriptions (in French and some photos click .
Heritage Picture Gallery
Notable people linked to the commune
Antoine Halley, born in 1593 at Bazenville died in 1675, poet.
