Hazebrouck

Hazebrouck is a commune in the Nord department of the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It was a small market town in Flanders until it became an important railway junction in the 1860s, with lines linking it to Lille, Calais and Dunkirk. West Flemish was the usual language until the late nineteenth century, when French spread through state schooling and the railways. The town, formerly Flemish, was ratified as part of France under the Treaties of Nijmegen in 1678. Its oldest monument is the church of St Eloi, and the Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1820. Hazebrouck was an important military target in both world wars, and the Battle of Hazebrouck in April 1918 was fought around this British-held rail centre. The town museum, once a chapel and friary of the Augustines, shows the town's processional giants, and Hazebrouck is twinned with Faversham in Kent.