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Wimereux

Coordinates: 50°46′N 1°37′E / 50.77°N 1.61°E / 50.77; 1.61
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Wimereux
Wimeruwe
Commune
Wimereux
Wimereux
Coat of arms of Wimereux
Coat of arms
Location of Wimereux
Map
Wimereux is located in France
Wimereux
Wimereux
Wimereux is located in Hauts-de-France
Wimereux
Wimereux
Coordinates: 50°46′N 1°37′E / 50.77°N 1.61°E / 50.77; 1.61
CountryFrance
RegionHauts-de-France
DepartmentPas-de-Calais
ArrondissementBoulogne-sur-Mer
CantonBoulogne-sur-Mer-1
IntercommunalityBoulonnais
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Jean-Luc Dubaële[1]
Area
1
7.71 km2 (2.98 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
6,358
 • Density820/km2 (2,100/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
62893 /62930
Elevation0–71 m (0–233 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Wimereux (French: [vim(ə)ʁø]; West Flemish: Wimeruwe) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.[3]

Geography

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Wimereux is a coastal town 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of Boulogne-sur-Mer, thus in the Boulonnais (land area), at the junction of the D233 and the D940 roads, on the banks of the small river or large stream, the Wimereux. The river Slack forms the northern limit of this commune, the straight, relatively low shore with the English Channel the western. Farming, leisure, care, public sector work and tourism are its main economic activities with a sizeable retired year-round-resident population.

History

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At Pointe-aux-Oies, dolmen can still be seen at a Stone Age prehistoric site.

Vauban built a coastal fort at the mouth of the river Wimereux, the ruins showed at low-tide until the 1940s. Napoleon ordered a port to be built here between 1803 and 1804, taking its name from the river. In 1840, the future Napoleon III, first president (and last monarch) of France, landed at Pointe aux Oies.

The territory of Wimereux originally belonged to the commune of Wimille, from which it separated on 28 May 1899. In the same year, the first radio link between France and England was established at Wimereux in March by Guglielmo Marconi.[4]

In the First World War, Boulogne and Wimereux formed an important hospital centre and until June 1918, the medical units used Wimereux communal cemetery for burials. Lady Hadfield set up and ran a Red Cross hospital here at her own expense for the treatment of wounded and sick servicemen.[5] The Women's Hospital Corps, founded by Flora Murray and Louisa Garratt Anderson, opened their second hospital in Wimereux, on request of the RAMC. It was the first women's hospital to be recognised by the British Army.[6] Colonel John McCrae, the Canadian gunner and doctor who wrote the popular war poem "In Flanders Fields", served and died in the hospital and is buried here.

Wimereux was the headquarters of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps. In 1916, Solomon J Solomon set up a Royal Engineers establishment, the Special Works Park, in a disused feldspar factory. Here were developed new military camouflage techniques and equipment for the British Army.[7] It became the General Headquarters of the British Army in 1919.

During the Second World War, German Naval Headquarters were situated on the northern side of the town. After D-Day, as Allied forces moved northwards, the town was shelled from Cap Gris Nez, and was re-taken by the Canadian 1st Army on 22 September 1944.

The seaside development was started during the Second Empire, resulting in a remarkable architectural ensemble of houses and buildings typical of the Belle Époque, which are still very well maintained to this day. Originally the secondary residence of wealthy families of Lille and Paris, Wimereux has become a residential suburb of Boulogne and also attracts Britons and Belgians who come to buy holiday homes or settle permanently.

Places of interest

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  • The church of the Immaculate Conception, dating from the twentieth century
  • The nineteenth-century chapel of Notre-Dame
  • The Villa 'Les Mauriciens'
  • The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery

People

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Twin towns

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Wimereux is twinned with the following towns:

Population

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Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1968 5,241—    
1975 6,712+3.60%
1982 7,023+0.65%
1990 7,109+0.15%
1999 7,493+0.59%
2007 7,398−0.16%
2012 7,161−0.65%
2017 6,575−1.69%
Source: INSEE[9]
[edit]
  • The beach at Wimereux
    The beach at Wimereux
  • Beach huts
    Beach huts
  • The west front of the church
    The west front of the church
  • The war memorial
    The war memorial
  • The seafront promenade
    The seafront promenade
  • Villa «La Frégate»
    Villa «La Frégate»
  • Villas on the seafront
    Villas on the seafront
  • Villa «De Sonis»
    Villa «De Sonis»
  • Plaque commemorating wireless link-up between France and England
    Plaque commemorating wireless link-up between France and England
  • High tide along the beachfront
    High tide along the beachfront
  • The beach crowded with people at lower tide
    The beach crowded with people at lower tide

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 9 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ INSEE commune file
  4. ^ "Guglielmo Marconi". National Trust. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Lady Hadfield, Obituary". The Times. 8 November 1949.
  6. ^ GEDDES, JENNIAN F (1 January 2007). "Deeds and Words in the Suffrage Military Hospital in Endell Street". Medical History. 51 (1): 79–98. doi:10.1017/s0025727300000909. ISSN 0025-7273. PMC 1712367. PMID 17200698.
  7. ^ Rankin, Nicholas (2008). Churchill's Wizards - the British genius for deception, 1914 - 1945. London: Faber and Faber. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-571-22195-0.
  8. ^ The CWGC cemetery
  9. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
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