Estrée-Blanche

Estrée-Blanche (Strate) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

History
Indian cavalry were stationed at Estrée-Blanche during the First World War.

Geography
Estrée-Blanche is a farming village some 12 mi to the northwest of Béthune and 30 mi west of Lille, at the junction of the D341, D186 and the D159 roads. The small rivers Surgeon and Laquette converge at the commune.

Estrée-Blanche is found at the extreme edge of the coal-mining area of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Part of its surface area was owned by the mining company, which ceased in the 1960s. All that remains of that era are some typical miners' houses.

It is one of many villages in the north of France bearing the name Estrées. The etymology of the name is from strata (cognate of English "street"), the word for the stone-layered Roman roads in the area (some of which turned into modern highways). Hence Estreti, village on the road which developed into Estrées.

Places of interest

 * The church of St.Vaast, dating from the sixteenth century.
 * The fifteenth-century Château de Créminil, built by the Le May family in 1443