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Aire, Pas-de-Calais, France

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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A town of northern France, on the river Lys, in the department of Pas-de-Calais, 12 m. S.S.E. of St Omer by rail. Pop. (1906) 4258. The town lies in a low and marshy situation at the junction of three canals. The chief buildings are the church of St Pierre (15th and 16th centuries), which has an imposing tower and rich interior decoration; a hotel de ville of the 18th century; and the Bailliage (16th century), a small building in the Renaissance style. Aire has flour-mills, leather and oil works, and nail manufactories, and trade in agricultural produce.

In the middle ages Aire belonged to the counts of Flanders, from whom in 1188 it received a charter, which is still extant. It was given to France by the peace of Utrecht 1713.