Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Commune of Dieppe | |
| Location | |
| Longitude | 01° 05' 1 E |
| Latitude | 49° 56' 2 N |
| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Haute-Normandie |
| Department | Seine-Maritime (sous-préfecture) |
| Arrondissement | Dieppe |
| Canton | Dieppe (chief town) |
| Mayor | Edouard Leveau |
| Statistics | |
| Altitude | 5 m–70 m |
| Population² (1999) |
35,694 |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 76217/ 76200 |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 mi² or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| ² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel). | |
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Dieppe is a town and commune in the Seine-Maritime département of France.
Population of the town at the 1999 census was 34,653 inhabitants (Dieppois), whereas the whole metropolitan area (aire urbaine) had 81,419 inhabitants.
A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, with a regular ferry service to Newhaven, England, from the Gare Maritime, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled beach, a 15th-century castle and the churches of St. Jacques and St. Remy.
Contents |
[edit] Geography
Dieppe belongs to the Pays de Caux region in France
[edit] History
First recorded as a small fishing settlement in 1030, Dieppe was an important prize fought over during the Hundred Years' War. Dieppe housed the most advanced French school of cartography in the 16th century, and was the premier port of the kingdom in the 17th century. On July 23, 1632, 300 colonists heading to New France departed from Dieppe. At the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Dieppe lost 3000 of its Huguenot citizens, who fled abroad.
Dieppe was an important target in wartime; the town was largely destroyed by an Anglo-Dutch naval bombardment in 1694. Rebuilt after 1696, it was popularised as a seaside resort following the 1824 visit of the widowed Duchess of Berry, Charles X's daughter-in-law. She encouraged the building of the recently-renovated municipal theater, the Petit-Theatre (1825), associated particularly with Camille Saint-Saëns.
The Dieppe Raid in the Second World War became known as a bloody battle, and a costly one for the Allies. On August 19, 1942 Allied soldiers, mainly Canadian, landed at Dieppe in the hope of occupying the town for a short time, gaining intelligence and drawing the Luftwaffe into open battle. The Allies suffered more than 1,400 deaths, 1,946 Canadian soldiers were captured, and no major objectives were achieved.
Dieppe, New Brunswick (previously Léger Corner) received its present name in 1946, in honour of the Canadian soldiers killed in the Dieppe Raid.
[edit] Famous people
Louis de Broglie, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, was born in Dieppe.
Emmanuel 'Manu' Petit, a World Cup-winning footballer, is from Dieppe.
St. Jean de la Lande SJ, a seventeeth century Jesuit brother who was martyred by the Iroquois Indians in present-day New York State.
Historical images of Dieppe
 View of Dieppe's Grand quai |
 Georges Boillot winning the 1912 French Grand Prix in Dieppe |
 Carl Spitzweg's painting Frauenbad in Dieppe III |
 Frits Thaulow's Fra Dieppe med elven Arques (From Dieppe with the river Arques) |
[edit] Sights
The castle, Château de Dieppe, which survived the 1694 bombardment, is now a museum and exhibition space, with a strong maritime collection. A rich collection of 17th- and 18th-century ivory carvings, including lacy folding fans, for which Dieppe was known, and the furnishings and papers of Camille Saint-Saens. The castle's interior courtyard is picturesque.
At the Square du Canada, near the castle in a park at the western end of the Esplanade, there is a monument erected by the town commemorating the long relationship between Dieppe and Canada. The events recorded begin with the early 16th century, and culminate with the Dieppe Raid and the liberation of Dieppe by Canadians on September 1, 1944. The base of the monument is inscribed with the words "nous nous souvenons" ("we remember"). Above the monument, the Canadian Maple Leaf flag is flown side-by-side with that of France.
Some of the Canadian soldiers who were killed are buried in the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, in the commune of Hautôt-sur-Mer south of Dieppe.
Images of Dieppe today
 Château-musée de Dieppe |
 Château-musée |
 The harbour |
 The waterfront |
[edit] Twin towns
Dieppe has several twin towns, including:
[edit] External links
- Dieppe Town Council website
- The Dieppe Raid
- Transmanche Ferries, who connect Dieppe and Newhaven (this was previously done by Hoverspeed until 2004).
