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Dieppe is a town and commune in the Seine-Maritime département of Haute-Normandie (eastern Normandy), France.
Population of the city (commune) 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, East Sussex from Gare Maritime, Dieppe also has a popular beach, a 15th century castle and the churches of St. Jacques and St. Remy.
Geography
Dieppe belongs to the Pays de Caux region.
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 premiere port of the kingdom in the 17th century. On July 23, 1632 300 colonists headed for New France departed 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 Anglo-Dutch naval bombardment in 1694. Rebuilt after 1696, it was popularised as a seaside resort following the first visit in 1824 of the widowed Duchess of Berry, daughter-in-law of Charles X. She encouraged the building of the recently-renovated municipal theater, the Petit-Theatre (1825), associated above all others with Camille Saint-Saëns.
Sights
The Castle, which survived the 1694 bombardment, contains an exhibition space and a museum with a strong maritime collection, a rich collection of the 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 Square du Canada, near the castle in a park at the western end of the Esplanade, there is a monument erected by the town that commemorates the long relationship between Dieppe and Canada. The events recorded begin with the early 16th century and culminate with two events during the Second World War: the August 19, 1942 Dieppe Raid, a bloody landing by Allied soldiers, mainly Canadian, and the liberation of Dieppe by Canadians on September 1, 1944. The base of the monument is inscribed with the French words "NOUS NOUS SOUVENONS" (We Remember). Above the monument, the Canadian Maple Leaf flag is flown side-by-side with the flag of France. Some of the Canadian soldiers killed here are buried in the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery in the Commune of Hautot-sur-Mer, about two miles south of Dieppe.
Dieppe, New Brunswick received its present name upon the incorporation of Léger Corner as a town in 1946 in honour of the Canadian soldiers killed in the 1942 raid on Dieppe, France.
Twin towns
Dieppe has several twin towns, including:
External links
Communes of Seine-Maritime | Port cities
Dieppe | Dieppe (Frankreich) | Dieppe (Seine-Maritime) | Dieppe | Dieppe (Frankrijk) | Dieppe | Dieppe | Dieppe | Дьеп | Дијеп | Dieppe
"Dieppe, Seine-Maritime"