Gamaches
Encyclopedia
Gamaches is a commune
in the Somme
department in Picardie
in northern France
.
, the border with Seine-Maritime
, some 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Abbeville
.
Huge lakes to the west of the town are a paradise for naturalists, anglers and water sports enthusiasts.
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...
in the Somme
Somme
Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....
department in Picardie
Picardie
Picardy is one of the 27 regions of France. It is located in the northern part of France.-History:The historical province of Picardy stretched from north of Noyon to Calais, via the whole of the Somme department and the north of the Aisne 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...
.
Geography
Gamaches is situated on the D1015, on the banks of the Bresle RiverBresle River
The Bresle is a river in the northwest of France that flows into the English Channel at Le Tréport. It crosses the departements of Oise, Somme and Seine-Maritime.- Introduction :...
, the border with Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime is a French department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre...
, some 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Abbeville
Abbeville
Abbeville is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Location:Abbeville is located on the Somme River, from its modern mouth in the English Channel, and northwest of Amiens...
.
Huge lakes to the west of the town are a paradise for naturalists, anglers and water sports enthusiasts.
History
- 1471 Louis XI and the BurgundiansBurgundiansThe Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...
wage war in and around the town. A year or so later, Charles the Bold ravaged Picardy in the continuing battle with BurgundyDuchy of BurgundyThe Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
. The plague decimated not only the troops but also the local populace. - Gamache has, for a long time, been linked with the manufacture of glass.
Population
Places of interest
- The war memorial
- The thirteenth century church of Saint-Pierre and Saint-Paul, with its flamboyant gothic tower, is the result of successive architectural influences.
- The old railway line, opened in 1872 and closed in 1993
- The lakes
