Audresselles
Encyclopedia
Audresselles is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 south of Cape Gris Nez in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

The commune covers about 2000 acres (8 km²) of cultivated lands, two beaches, and seashore cliffs. Its original name was Oderzell.

History

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
Audinghen
Audinghen is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming commune, comprising several hamlets, some north of Boulogne, at the junction of the D940 and the D191 roads...

. 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 house
Long house
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building built by peoples in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe and North America....

s with a colored strip along the lower part of the walls, in the village center, and somme villas of the "Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...

" in front of the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

. 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 drakkar
Drakkar
Drakkar may refer to:*Drekar, a Viking longship*Drakkar Entertainment*Drakkar Productions, a French underground black metal label*Baie-Comeau Drakkar, a junior hockey team*Drakkar, an Italian power metal band...

s) are still used by the holiday yachtsmen.

Main sights

  • The Church of Saint John the Baptist, fortified, 12th century, with large canvas of the Second Empire
    Second French Empire
    The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...

     painted in the Catholic workhalls of father Jacques Paul Migne
    Jacques Paul Migne
    Jacques Paul Migne was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely-distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a universal library for the Catholic priesthood.He was born at Saint-Flour, Cantal and studied...

     in the style of Delacroix
    Eugène Delacroix
    Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...

     and a little 18th century reredos
    Reredos
    thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....

    .
  • Saint-John farm (beginning of the 17th century);
  • The coaching inn, rue Édouard Quénu (eighteenth century).
  • The panoramic allée Maurice Boitel
    Maurice Boitel
    Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007 in Audresselles (Pas-de-Calais), was a French painter.-Artistic life:Maurice Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris, with painters like Bernard Buffet, Yves...

     

Birds

Gull
Gull
Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...

s, cormorant
Cormorant
The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...

s, jackdaw
Jackdaw
The Jackdaw , sometimes known as the Eurasian Jackdaw, European Jackdaw or Western Jackdaw, is a passerine bird in the crow family. Found across Europe, western Asia and North Africa, it is mostly sedentary, although northern and eastern populations migrate south in winter. Four subspecies are...

s, loon
Loon
The loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia...

s, mallard
Mallard
The Mallard , or Wild Duck , is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia....

s, bittern
Bittern
Bitterns are a classification of birds in the heron family, Ardeidae, a family of wading birds. Species named bitterns tend to be the shorter-necked, often more secretive members of this family...

s, sandpipers, snipe
Snipe
A snipe is any of about 25 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill and crypsis plumage. The Gallinago snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia and Europe and the...

s, oystercatcher
Oystercatcher
The oystercatchers are a group of waders; they form the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, Haematopus. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia...

s, heron
Heron
The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....

s, curlew
Curlew
The curlews , genus Numenius, are a group of eight species of birds, characterised by long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. They are one of the most ancient lineages of scolopacid waders, together with the godwits which look similar but have straight bills...

s, egret
Egret
An egret is any of several herons, most of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes during the breeding season. Many egrets are members of the genera Egretta or Ardea which contain other species named as herons rather than egrets...

s, guillemot
Guillemot
Guillemots is the common name for several species of seabird in the auk family . In British use, the term comprises two genera: Uria and Cepphus. In North America the Uria species are called "murres" and only the Cepphus species are called "guillemots"...

s, peregrine falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...

s, swan
Swan
Swans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae...

s, and geese
Goose
The word goose is the English name for a group of waterfowl, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....

.

Marine mammals

Some black-headed seals
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...

 have settled down in the creeks behind the village since July 2006 and dislike to be disturbed, following the swimmers to the beach. Also present are Orca
Orca
The killer whale , commonly referred to as the orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas...

s (killer whales), pilot whale
Pilot whale
Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus Globicephala. There are two extant species, the long-finned pilot whale and the short-finned pilot whale . The two are not readily distinguished at sea and analysis of the skulls is the best way to tell the difference between them...

s, dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...

s and porpoise
Porpoise
Porpoises are small cetaceans of the family Phocoenidae; they are related to whales and dolphins. They are distinct from dolphins, although the word "porpoise" has been used to refer to any small dolphin, especially by sailors and fishermen...

s.

Flora

Plants of this region are those that can resist the salt-laden southwesterly wind. Species include Lyciet, privet
Privet
Privet was originally the name for the European semi-evergreen shrub Ligustrum vulgare, and later also for the more reliably evergreen Ligustrum ovalifolium , used extensively for privacy hedging. It is often suggested that the name privet is related to private, but the OED states that there is no...

, spindle-tree, eleagnus, speedwell
Veronica (plant)
Veronica is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Plantaginaceae, with about 500 species; it was formerly classified in the family Scrophulariaceae...

, marram grass
Marram grass
Ammophila is a genus consisting of two or three very similar species of grasses; common names for these grasses include Marram Grass, Bent Grass, and Beachgrass...

 and Armeria maritima
Armeria maritima
Armeria maritima is the botanical name for a species of flowering plant.It is a popular garden flower, known by several common names, including thrift, sea thrift, and sea pink. The plant has been distributed worldwide as a garden and cut flower...

.

People

  • Robert Beauvais
    Robert Beauvais
    Robert Beauvais was a French writer and journalist. He was married twice, to Gisèle Parry and Ginette Garcin. Among his friends were Guy des Cars, Jacques Rueff, Maurice Boitel, and Françoise Sagan. Some of his works were later adapted by Jean Yanne. Beauvais is buried in the village of...

    , writer and journalist
  • Albert Besson
    Albert Besson
    Albert Besson was a French hygienist, physician and member of the French Academy of Medicine.-Biography:In 1916, as officer cadet, he was seriously injured at the fort Vaux, during the battle of Verdun, after saving wounded soldiers, and at first, was considered as dead *.On the way to recovery,...

    , bactériologist
  • Maurice Boitel
    Maurice Boitel
    Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007 in Audresselles (Pas-de-Calais), was a French painter.-Artistic life:Maurice Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris, with painters like Bernard Buffet, Yves...

    , painter
  • Carolus-Duran
    Carolus-Duran
    Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran , was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of high society in Third Republic France.-Biography:...

    , painter
  • Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse
    Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse
    Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse was a French sculptor and painter.- Life :Carrier-Belleuse was a student of David d'Angers and briefly at the École des Beaux-Arts...

    , painter
  • Philippe de Hauteclocque said Leclerc, marshal
    Marshal
    Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...

     of France
  • Edmond Marin la Meslée
    Edmond Marin la Meslee
    Edmond Marin la Meslée was a French fighter pilot in World War II. He ranks as the 5th highest-scoring French ace of this conflict with 16 aerial victories.-Biography:...

    , aviator
  • Jean Quenu, surgeon

Living

  • Catherine Destivelle
    Catherine Destivelle
    Catherine Monique Suzanne Destivelle is an Algeria-born French rock climber and mountaineer. In 1992 she became the first woman to complete a solo ascent of the Eiger's north face. She completed the climb in winter in 15 hours...

    , alpinist
  • Andreas Dilthey, architect
  • Henri Dutilleux
    Henri Dutilleux
    Henri Dutilleux is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own...

    , composer
  • Marc Ashmann, composer, musician, writer, cook
  • Frederic Colier
    Frederic Colier
    Frederic Colier is a filmmaker, playwright, novelist and musician.- Biography :Born in Audresselles, France, Frederic Colier currently lives in New York City. Until 1990, he was the bass guitarist of the London-based pop rock band "Purple" which later charted success under the name of Dodgy...

    , filmmaker, playwright, novelist, and musician

Sources

  • "Audresselles, éléments d'une histoire", éd. Association "Mémoire d'Audresselles"

by Daniel Leunens, historian, formerly maire of Audresselles;
  • "Rivages boulonnais", éd. Association "Mémoire d'Audresselles", by Olivier Lazzarotti, geograph (December 2006);

  • "Nobiliaire de Picardie", page 1, realised in 1698 by Jérôme Bignon
    Jérôme Bignon
    Jérôme Bignon was a French lawyer born in Paris.His family was originating from the western part of France and came to Paris at the beginning of the sixteen century....

    (1658–1725), Intendant (High sheriff or governor) of the province, by order of the king, Louis the fourteenth.

External links

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