BOFFLES
Boffles is located on the plateau Ternésien between Canche and Authie, at 123m altitude near the axis Auxi-Frevent. The village, attached to Mount Boffles on the southern side (altitude: 125m), belongs to the basin of the Authie. The prehistoric riches found around the town (tools of polished or polished flint: biface, axes, scrapers) and, later, the proximity of an axis certainly Gaul’s,
tend to show that the human occupation of the place is old. The Bofflois territory, still worked by two farms, covers 327 hectares. Moreover, the toponymy of the place is interesting. Indeed, Boffles was written Bofles in the twelfth century and Boves between 1214 and 1311; the origin would be Bouffa (blow), designating a place where the wind blows. But Boves also originates from Bova (cave in old French) and there exists the place called "caves", between Boffles and Noeux. The land of Boffles gave its name to a house of chivalry whose ancestors were very illustrious in Artois and Picardy. Jean de Boffles was part of the Crusade of Damietta, as evidenced by an original charter dated June 1217. Godefroy and Jean de Boffles of the Provost of Saint-Riqufer, were summoned for the war in 1337. Jean de Boffles, (Squire) received his wages and those of 10 squires from his company on August 16, 1415. Rasse de Boffles (Squire) councillor of the duke of Burgundy, takes his pension on the receipt of Ponthieu in 1450. Romage, (Knight) allied to Marie d'Ailly around 1450, lady of Boffles, and mother of Jean Gargan. Quillin de Boffles, man of war under Sir Charles, lord of Rubempre, in 1491. Pierre, Adrien and Frederic, men-at-arms under the Duke of Vendosme in 1519. man-at-arms of Sir Oudard du Biez, in 1523. d'Humieres, in 1522. The bastard of Boffles, archer of the order under M. Pont-Remy in 1525, maréchal-des-logis, in 1536. Louis and Roboan, archers under M. d'Humièresen 1529. Roboan, Antoine and Lois, archers under Monseigneur the Dauphin in 1534. In the month of September, 1472, the garrison of Amiens put the village of Boffles to blood and fury. In the 18th century, the priory of Saint-Georges-les-Hesdin owned the original communal church of Boffles, the command of the Knights Templar receive the entire remains of Boffles (1757). The Chevalier Jean-Charles Marie Cleret de Boffles and hero of the Napoleonic wars, enlisted as a simple soldier in a cavalry regiment and earned his epaulets of colonel due to numerous battles laying the conquests of the empire. He died at Boffles as Mayor of Boffles in his native place, in 1853. The current church, dating from 1864, is dedicated to St. Martin. Against the wall of the church, a tombstone is erected in memory of Colonel Jean-Charles Marie Cleret. Boffles was a British army Garrison town during the First World War being close to Frevent and St-Pol where the soldiers would walk to the battlefields of the Somme. Many pieces of military equipment and ammunition can be found in the fields and gardens around the village. During World War two, Boffles was occupied by the Germans who guarded and operated the nearby V1 launch sites of Bachimont, Villers L’hopital and Vacquerie-le-Boucq
During that time the Germans were plagued and tormented by the French resistance who were most active in the area. There is evidence of british airmen being hidden in cellars and tunnels in the village.
