Audresselles

The village

Coat of arms

Audresselles

Location within Hauts-de-France region

Audresselles

Coordinates: 50°49′28″N 1°35′41″E / 50.8244°N 1.5947°ECoordinates: 50°49′28″N 1°35′41″E / 50.8244°N 1.5947°E

Country

Terre des deux caps

Government

• Mayor (2001–today)

Roger Tourret

Area¹

5.72 km² (2.21 sq mi)

Population (2009)²

714

• Density

120/km² (320/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

INSEE/Postal code

62056 /62164

Elevation

0–114 m (0–374 ft)
(avg. 30 m or 98 ft)

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

²Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Audresselles (Dutch: Ouderzelle, English: St. John) is a commune south of Cape Gris Nez in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.

The commune covers about 2,000 acres (809.4 ha) of cultivated lands, two beaches, and seashore cliffs. In the 12th century it was known as Oderzelle.

Between the end of English occupation in 1558 and the middle of the 17th century, Audresselles seigneury included Haringzelle hamlet; today, this is now a forest hiding the former German artillery batteries of Audinghen. This seigneury was owned by the Acary family, which gave some admirals to the French fleet and from whom most of the borough fishermen are descended.

An old fishers village, Audresselles has kept its characteristic features: its long houses with a colored strip along the lower part of the walls, in the village center, and somme villas of the "Belle Époque" in front of the English Channel. Professional fishing families still live in Audresselles, and one of them uses the village sand beach to land its ship. The traditional flobarts (little trunkated drakkars) are still used by the holiday yachtsmen.

The town has given its name to the blue European lobster.

Gulls, cormorants, jackdaws, loons, mallards, bitterns, sandpipers, snipes, oystercatchers, herons, curlews, egrets, guillemots, peregrine falcons, swans, and geese.

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Wikipedia