Berck

Sailors' Calvary with remains of the Nazi coastal defences behind

Coat of arms

Berck

Location within Hauts-de-France region

Berck

Coordinates: 50°24′32″N 1°35′36″E / 50.4089°N 1.5933°ECoordinates: 50°24′32″N 1°35′36″E / 50.4089°N 1.5933°E

Country

Opale Sud

Government

• Mayor (2014–2020)

Bruno Cousein

Area¹

14.88 km² (5.75 sq mi)

Population (2009)²

15,565

• Density

1,000/km² (2,700/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

INSEE/Postal code

62108 / 62600

Elevation

0–30 m (0–98 ft)
(avg. 9 m or 30 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.

Berck, sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer, is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve.

Situated just to the north of the estuary of the river Authie, Berck has a huge expanse of sandy beach and impressive grassy-topped dunes facing north onto the English Channel. The town comprises two parts – to the east, the old fishing town of Berck-Ville and to the west the seaside area, Berck-sur-Mer.

Berck is attested along the centuries with various forms: datum Bergis and/or Berc in 1215,Bierk in 1282.

Its origin has been conjectured to come either from Germanic berg "hill", "mount" or birkja "place of the birch trees", designating the birch tree wood nearby. The Modern Dutch word for "birch" is berk.

In Dutch Berk-aan-Zee.

The old town was formerly a fishing harbour which in 1301 was recorded to have 150 homesteads with 800 inhabitants. A mediaeval wooden lighthouse, known locally as a foïer, was built on a dune and lit by charcoal and faggots but this burned down several times. On one occasion at least it was as a result of the continuous conflict between the English and the French in the Hundred Years War. The chronicler Enguerrand de Monstrelet mentions that during 1414 the English garrison in Calais raided south and burned the town. Eventually the lighthouse was replaced by a stone tower at the side of which a chapel was built in the 15th century, but this did not save it from further mishap. During the second siege of Montreuil in 1544, the English advanced from the south and burned 200 houses, the church and the mill as they passed through Berck. What was left of the place was then burned by the French on their way to relieve the siege.

The chapel was later extended to join the tower, making what is now the church of St-Jean-Baptiste, but the tower was only converted to a belfry after the sea retired, leaving it 1.5 kilometres inland. It is for this reason that the present division between the original village and the sea-front area exists. As a result, boats were then designed with flat bottoms so that they could be drawn up on the beach and a cart was driven out to them in order to bring in the catch (see Eugène Boudin's painting below).

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Wikipedia