Wissant

French commune
name= Wissant
region=
departement=
arrondissement=
canton= Marquise
insee=62899
cp=62179
maire=Bernard Bracq
mandat=2008-2014
intercomm=Communauté de communes de la Terre des Deux Caps
longitude=1.66361111111
latitude=50.8861111111
alt moy=17 m
alt mini=0 m
alt maxi=158 m
hectares=1 279
km²=12,79
sans=1 186
date-sans=1999
dens=92|

Wissant (en White sand) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais "département" in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

Geography

A fishing port and farming village situated some convert|14|mi|km north of Boulogne, at the junction of the D238 and the D940 roads, on the English Channel coast.

History

Located at the eastern end of an ancient lagoon, Wissant has long been a fishing village (it's the last fishing village in France to use a traditional method of fishing using a wooden boat called a flobart) and was once the major port for access to England (It was for a long period under English administration, as was all of the Pas-de-Calais).
At the end of the 19th century, the coastal dunes of Wissant begin to cover the seaside villas. In the 20th century, an entrepreneur, Mr. Létendart from Calais, extracted sand and gravel from the dunes to the west of Wissant, in the bed of the ancient lagoon. The huge excavations now form lakes and a nature reserve. At the time of the exploitation of these gravel pits, the bones of a mammoth complete with its tusks were discovered by four workers .
Today, because of the frequent and usually favourable winds and the proximity of the TGV railway station and the Eurostar trains to Frethun, Parisians call Wissant the "Mecca” of surfing.

Population

Places of interest

* The church of St.Nicholas, dating from the 15th century.
* Le Typhonium, a villa built in Egyptian style [ [http://www.culture.gouv.fr/documentation/memoire/LISTES/bases/france-dpt.htm Ministère de la Culture (Bases de données)] ] .
* Two 17th century fortified manorhouses.
* An old watermill, now a museum
* The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.

See also

*Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

External links

* [http://www.ville-wissant.fr Official Wissant website] fr
* [http://www.wissant.com/php/home.php A Wissant website] fr
* [http://membres.lycos.fr/histopale/wissant.htm The history of Wissant] fr
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=detail&id=27380&req=Wissant Wissant on the Quid website] fr
* [http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=2027555&mode=1 The CWGC cemetery]

Notes

*"This article is based on the original and the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted on September 10th 2008."