DIEPPE, SEINE-MARITIME

'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 urban area (''aire urbaine'') had 81,419 inhabitants the same year.
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

Geography

History

Famous people

Sights

Twin towns

External links

Geography

Dieppe belongs to the Pays de Caux region in France

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.
During the later nineteenth century, Dieppe became popular with English artists as a beach resort. Prominent literary figures such as Arthur Symons loved to keep up with the latest fads of avant-garde France here, and during "the season" sometimes stayed for weeks on end.
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.

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'

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'

Twin towns

Dieppe has several twin towns, including:

★ - Grimsby (England)

External links

★ Dieppe Town Council website

★ The Dieppe Raid

★ Transmanche Ferries, who connect Dieppe and Newhaven (this was previously done by Hoverspeed until 2004).