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Dugny (Municipality, Seine-Saint-Denis, France)

Flag of Dugny, two versions - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 2 July 2020

Presentation of Dugny
Flag of Dugny

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Presentation of Dugny

he municipality of Dugny (10,505 inhabitants in 2015, 389 ha; municipal website) is located 10 km north of Paris.

Dugny was already settled in the Celtic and Merovingian times, being then known as Duniacum, Dunius' domain. At the time, the village was located on a plateau surrounded by marshes and watered by seven streams. The place was subsequently known as Dugny-en-France, referring to the plain of France, located north of Paris, which would subsequently give its name to the whole country. Dugny was recorded in 1119 among the possessions of Saint-Martin-des-Champs abbey in Paris, to be subsequently transferred to the Saint-Denis abbey. Around 1700, Dugny was part of the Gonesse district, famous for supplying wheat, flour and bread to the population of Paris. At the time, the village had 200 inhabitants, three water mills, two farmers and ten bakers.

Still a rural village in 1900, Dugny morphed into a suburban town in the beginning of the 20th century. Half of its territory was used to establish an airfield in 1914; in 1924, the Department of Seine purchased arable lands to build HBM (habitations bon marché - "cheap dwellings") to house the airmen and their families as well as workers employed on the airfield and in Paris. During the Second World War, Dugny experienced 15 air raids targeting the airfield. The town was completely destroyed on 16 August 1943, prompting the population to leave and the Municipal Council to flee to the neighboring town of Stains.
Totally rebuilt, Dugny boomed until 1975, when the transfer of the international airport from Le Bourget to Roissy caused a huge financial loss to the town. The crisis was aggravated by the desindustrialization of the area and the suppression of the Air Force Base in 1984.

Ivan Sache, 2 August 2020

Flag of Dugny

The flag of Dugny (photo, 2020) is white with the municipal coat of arms and "VILLE DE DUGNY" below. Earlier sightings (photo) show the flag without writing.

The arms of Dugny are "Quarterly, 1. and 4. Azure three fleurs-de-lis or surrounding a nail argent, 2. and 3. Gules three garbs of three wheat spikes or surrounding a fer de moline argent".
The 1st and 4th quarters represent the Kingdom of France and the Saint-Denis Royal abbey; the fleurs-de-lis represent royalty, while the nail recalls that King Saint-Louis offered to the abbey in 1248 one of the nails used during the Crucifixion, "brought back" to France during the Crusades.
The 2nd and 3rd quarters recall wheat growing and flour production by water mills. The War Cross 1939-1945 with palms, appended to the shield, was granted to the town to commemorate the air raid of 16 August 1943 and the subsequent rebirth of the town.
[Municipal website]

Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 2 August 2020