Cucq | ||
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Commune | ||
Beach at Stella from the dunes
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Coordinates: 50°28′39″N 1°37′10″E / 50.4775°N 1.6194°ECoordinates: 50°28′39″N 1°37′10″E / 50.4775°N 1.6194°E | ||
Country | France | |
Region | Hauts-de-France | |
Department | Pas-de-Calais | |
Arrondissement | Montreuil | |
Canton | Étaples | |
Intercommunality | Mer et Terres d’Opale | |
Government | ||
• Mayor (2008–2014) | Walter Kahn | |
Area1 | 13.16 km2 (5.08 sq mi) | |
Population (1999)2 | 4,912 | |
• Density | 370/km2 (970/sq mi) | |
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
INSEE/Postal code | 62261 /62780 | |
Elevation | 3–45 m (9.8–147.6 ft) (avg. 5 m or 16 ft) |
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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.
Cucq (official name is Cucq-Trépied-Stella-Plage) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Cucq is made up of three villages: Cucq itself, the second village of Trépied in the north and the coastal resort of Stella-Plage to the west.
During the Merovingian period, the terrain presently occupied by Cucq, Le Touquet, Merlimont and Berck was either marshland or tidal.
Little by little, the sea withdrew and the marshes were covered by sand and the dunes. The grass-covered dunes of Cucq and Trépied are the result of centuries of coastal movement. The sand of the lower beach, blown by the wind at low tide, accumulated to form a cordon of dunes along the coast.
Cucq or Cuc in Celtic meant "height, hill" or in Latin "fortified". The town was originally situated on a dune slightly higher than others in the vicinity, from which the comparison and the name of Cucq or Cuck or Cucques has evolved.
Trépied is so-called because of the triangular outline of the town.
In 1819, the government decided to sell the land of the former domain of the Abbey of St. Josse, confiscated at the time of the French Revolution. 1600 hectares of the warrens of Trépied were sold in 1837 to Jean-Baptiste Daloz. Pine trees were planted over the entire plot of land. Most of this area became better-known later as Le Touquet, a separate commune, in 1912.
On the banks of the river Canche, the harbour of Trépied once boasted more than thirty fishing boats. 150 men lived from the sea, supplying fish to the markets of Amiens, Abbeville and Beauvais.