Wimereux, France

Wimereux

Commune

Wimereux

Coat of arms

Wimereux

Location within Hauts-de-France region

Wimereux

Coordinates: 50°46′14″N 1°36′38″E / 50.7706°N 1.6106°ECoordinates: 50°46′14″N 1°36′38″E / 50.7706°N 1.6106°E

Country

Government

• Mayor (2014-2020)

Francis Ruelle

Area¹

7.71 km² (2.98 sq mi)

Population (2014)²

6,996

• Density

910/km² (2,400/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

INSEE/Postal code

62893 /62930

Elevation

0–71 m (0–233 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.

Wimereux is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.

Wimereux is a coastal town situated some 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of Boulogne, at the junction of the D233 and the D940 roads, on the banks of the river Wimereux. The river Slack forms the northern boundary of the commune, the English Channel the western. Farming and tourism are its principal activities.

At Pointe-aux-Oies, dolmen can still be seen at a Stone Age prehistoric site.

Vauban built a coastal fort at the mouth of the river Wimereux, the ruins showed at low-tide until the 1940s. Napoleon ordered a port to be built here between 1803 and 1804, taking its name from the river. In 1840, the future Napoleon III, first president (and last monarch) of France, landed at Pointe aux Oies.

The territory of Wimereux originally belonged to the commune of Wimille, from which it separated on May 28, 1899. In the same year, the first radio link between France and England was established at Wimereux in March by Guglielmo Marconi.

In the First World War, Boulogne and Wimereux formed an important hospital centre and until June 1918, the medical units used Wimereux communal cemetery for burials. Lady Hadfield set up and ran a Red Cross hospital here at her own expense for the treatment of wounded and sick servicemen.

Wimereux was the headquarters of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps and In 1916, Solomon J Solomon set up a Royal Engineers establishment, the Special Works Park, in a disused feldspar factory. Here were developed new military camouflage techniques and equipment for the British Army. In 1919 it became the General Headquarters of the British Army.

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Wikipedia