Wimereux

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Coordinates: 50°46′14″N 1°36′38″E / 50.7705555556, 1.6105555556

Administration
Commune of Wimereux
Location
Wimereux
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Boulogne-sur-Mer
Canton	Boulogne-sur-Mer-Nord-Ouest
Intercommunality	Communauté d'agglomération du Boulonnais
Mayor	Francis Ruelle (2008-2014)
Statistics
Elevation	0–71 m (0–230 ft)
Land area¹	7.71 km² (2.98 sq mi)
Population² (1999)	7493
- Density	972 /km² (2,520 /sq mi)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	62893/ 62930
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Wimereux is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais département in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Places of interest
4 People with links to the town
5 Affiliations
6 See also
7 External links
8 Notes and sources

[edit] Geography

A coastal town situated some 3 miles (4.8 km) 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.

[edit] History

At the Pointe-aux-Oies, dolmen can still be seen at a prehistoric site of the Stone Age, the first known settlement of Wimereux.
At the mouth of the river at Wimereux, Vauban built a coastal fort, whose ruins once showed at low-tide until the 1940s, when they disappeared completely.
Under the orders of Napoleon, a port was constructed here between 1803 and 1804. Wimereux took its name from the river which flows into the sea where the port was built.
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, but separated on May 28th, 1899. In the same year, the first radio link between France and England was established at Wimereux in April by Guglielmo Marconi and Édouard Branly.
In the First World War, a Red Cross hospital was set up and run here by Lady Hadfield at her own expense for the treatment of wounded and sick servicemen.^[1] The seaside development was started during the Second Empire resulting in a remarkable architectural ensemble of houses and buildings typical of the Belle Epoque which are still very well maintained to this day. Originally the secondary residence of wealthy families of Lille and Paris, Wimereux has become, in the last twenty years or so, a residential suburb of the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Wimereux also attracts Britons, Belgians and Russians who come to buy holiday homes or settle permanently.

[edit] Places of interest

The church of the Immaculate Conception, dating from the 20th century.
The 19th century chapel of Notre-Dame.
The Villa ‘Les Mauriciens’
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.
A golf course.

[edit] People with links to the town

Alfred Mathieu Giard, zoologist and director of the marine research establishment at Wimereux.
John McCrae, author of "In Flanders Fields", is buried in the CWGC cemetery.
Jack Lang, politician and one-time government minister.
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, aviation pioneer, crashed to his death from a balloon here.
Maurice Boitel, artist, exhibited here in the 1980s and 1990s.

The beach at Wimereux	Beach huts	The church	The west front of the church	The war memorial
The seafront promenade	Villa «La Frégate»	Villas on the seafront	Plaque commemorating the link-up of France-England by wireless