Before frenziedly adding points of interest to the map, I would like to present here a revision of the (hopeless? but still persisting) TWHS of
les villes bastionnées des Pays-Bas, after some little research on the ground.
Currently we have:
- Arras
- Bergues
- Bouchain
- Cambrai
- Condé-sur-l'Escaut
- Gravelines
- Landrecies
- Lille
- Maubeuge
- Quesnoy
- Watten
First remark: Quesnoy
needs to be corrected in Le Quesnoy, that's the name of the place (different from the many other Quesnoyses)
The source for this list was a project trying to promote the inscription of some fortified cities of Northern France. However, the project lasted from 2003 to 2007, while the TWHS has been lying on the tentative list since 1996. Its description is extremely vague and seems to encompass every fortified place in three departments (ignoring the reference to Belgium and Netherlands): Nord, Pas de Calais and the old Champagne-Ardenne (now part of Grand Est), the latter not represented by our list. At the same time, the definition of "bastionnées" and the "expensive efforts of military constructions" seem to point to the activity of Vauban and the setup of the
"pré carré" in the XVIII century.
Looking at that, also sustained by the maps shown in some of these fortified places (how can I upload photos) and searching for information on each, I would revise the list as follows (N = Nord, P = Pas de Calais, CA = Champagne-Ardenne):
- First line: Dunkerque* (N), Bergues (N), Lille (N), Condé-sur-l'Escaut (N), Valenciennes* (N), Le Quesnoy (N), Maubeuge (N), Givet* (CA)
- Second line: Gravelines (N), Saint-Omer* (P), Aire-sur-la-Lys* (P), Saint-Venant* (P), Béthune* (P), Arras (P), Douai* (N), Bouchain (N), Cambrai (N), Landrecies (N), Avesnes-sur-Helpe* (N), Rocroi* (CA), (Charleville-)Mézières* (CA), Sedan* (CA)
- Others: Calais* (P)
Part of the two lines but not in France: Veurne/Furnes, Fort Knokke/Fort de la Knocque, Ieper/Ypres, Warneton, Menen/Menin, Tournai, Philippeville, Dinant, Mariembourg
The places with a * would be new additions, 13 in total, with 4 representing Champagne-Ardennes, while Watten would be excluded. Dunkerque, Bergues, Lille, Condé-sur-l'Escaut, Gravelines, Béthune, Arras, Douai, Cambrai, Sedan and Calais are already inscribed on other grounds, but not for their fortifications.
In some places the fortifications are actually barely present anymore, like in Dunkerque, where they were completely destroyed as part of a treaty already in the XVIII century.