Last modified: 2021-06-19 by ivan sache
Keywords: saint-georges-sur-l'aa |
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![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-59-sg.gif)
Flag of Saint-Georges-sur-l'Aa - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 16 November 2020
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The municipality of Saint-Georges-sur-l'Aa (305 inhabitants in 2018; 813 ha; municipal website) is located just south of Gravelines.
Saint-Georges-sur-l'Aa was allegedly established by English soldiers around a sanctuary dedicated to England's patron saint. The village's church, famous for its early Gothic choir (early 13th century), dates back to this period. Sanctus Georgius, mentioned in 1178, belonged to the Diocese of Saint-Omer.
Located between the port of Dunkirk and the Gravelines nuclear power plant, Saint-Georges was planned to suppression in order to increase the port. The registration of the parish church in 1975 as an historical monument saved the village.
Olivier Touzeau &, Ivan Sache, 20 November 2020
The flag of Saint-Georges-sur-l'Aa (video) is white with the municipal coat of arms, "Or, quarterly 1. and 4. a double-headed eagle gules, 2. and 3. a bear sable rampant leaning on a curved log gules, overall a wavy pale azure".
The arms, the pale wavy excluded, were assigned by Th. Leuridan (Armorial des communes du département du Nord, 1909) as the arms of the de Fourmestraux dit des Wazières lineage. The only mention of the village in documents of the Ancient Regime refers to Marie-Madeleine-Françoise des Wazières, elected in 1789 representative of the Viscounty of Saint-Georges at the States of Flanders.
The pale wavy, representing river Aa, was most probably added when Saint-Georges was renamed to Saint-Georges-sur-l'Aa.
The shield is supported by wheat and flax plants. The white scroll is inscribed with the village's original name (1178 SANCTUS GEORGIUS) and name adopted during the French Revolution (1793 GEORGES LIBRE [Free George]).
Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 20 November 2020