Le Tréport () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of 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. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...

department in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Geography

A small

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

port and

light industrial Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industry and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced for ...

town situated in the

Pays de Caux The Pays de Caux (, , literally ''Land of Caux'') is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French ''département'' of Seine Maritime in Normandy. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs ...

, some northeast of

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

at the junction of the D 940, the D 78 and the D 1015 roads. The mouth of the river Bresle meets the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

here, in between the high () chalk cliffs and the pebbly beach. Le Tréport-Mers station has rail connections to Beauvais. Le Tréport is also a sea-side resort and home to a casino.

History

Le Tréport (the ancient ''Ulterior Portus'') was a port of some note in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and suffered from the English invasions.

Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

twice received

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

here in 1843 and 1845. The casino was built 1896–1897. The British World War I soldier Arthur Bullock, who was stationed in Le Tréport after the Armistice, was captivated by the town, nestling at the bottom of cliffs which could be ascended by 365 steps or by a cliff railway. Bullock recorded in his memoir, 'The sea floor must have been covered by multicoloured sands, for on a clear day, looking from the cliffs straight down into the sea, it seemed that one was looking at a vast abstract canvas of blues, yellows, reds and greens'. While staying there, Bullock also painted a study of a French fisher girl with a basket on her back. In World War II the town was liberated by the 3rd Canadian Division on 1 September 1944. The city was powered by an electric tramway from 1902. The operation of the Eu-Le Tréport-Mers tramway ceased in 1934. The vocation of Le Tréport as a seaside resort began under the reign of

Louis-Philippe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...

, when the family of this sovereign, residing regularly in Eu, inaugurated the fashion for sea bathing. The Parisian upper middle class wasted no time in building villas on the waterfront and lead a social life there until the eve of Second World War. The tramway was installed at this time as a corollary. The Tréport - Mers railway station, opened on May 12, 1872, gave Parisians access to the seaside resort and stirred its development. We saw travelers getting off a pleasure train, before the First World War. Most of the villas were destroyed during the military operations of 1944, which explains the presence of typical ''Reconstruction architecture'', particularly by the sea. A college in Tréport has the name of Rachel-Salmona, in memory of a 10-year-old girl deported in February 1943, suffering the fate of her father Vitali a few months later, in the Auschwitz camp with her sister, her mother and his grandmother, after being interned in Dieppe and the Drancy camp. The German army fearing during the whole of the Second World War a landing in Normandy, had several galleries drilled into the cliff to build defenses there facing the sea. These galleries, the whole of which bears the name of Kahl- Burg, are accessible and can be visited today. Peace and reconstruction brought a comeback of popular tourism and beach life. An oyster bed, where you could taste the seafood at the very exit of the basins, was located at the very end of the pier, just below the cliffs, after the funicular. A picturesque and popular place, the oyster bed closed its doors in the 1970s.

Population

Administration

The current mayor of Le Tréport is Laurent Jacques of the PCF political party. He became 1st vice-mayor following the 2014 municipal elections (2014-2020). He took over as mayor in January 2016 upon the death of his predecessor Alain Longuent ( PCF).

Main sights

* The remains of an eleventh-century abbey. * The

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

of St. Julien. * The

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

. * The new

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

, built in 1907-08, and restored in 2006, linking the town with the cliff-tops. * The church of St. Jacques du Tréport, dating from the fourteenth century. * Two

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

s (The Vieux Tréport museum and the Local History museum).

People

Paul Paray Paul Marie-Adolphe Charles Paray () (24 May 1886 – 10 October 1979) was a French conductor, organist and composer. He was the resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1952 until 1963. Early life and education Paul Paray was ...

, conductor, was born here in 1886.

Miscellaneous

The three towns of Le Tréport, Eu and

Mers-les-Bains Mers-les-Bains () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The commune is situated on the D1015 road, some west of Abbeville, Mers-les-Bains faces the English Channel near the mouth of the river ...

are known locally as the ''Three sisters''.

Television

Le Tréport was used as the location for the 2014 French police thriller ''Witnesses ("Les témoins"). The series, which was written by Hervé Hadmar and Marc Herpoux, starred Thierry Lhermitte and Marie Dompnier. Its style and tempo have been compared to

Scandinavian noir Nordic noir, also known as Scandinavian noir or Scandi noir, is a genre of crime fiction usually written from a police point of view and set in Scandinavia or Nordic countries. Plain language avoiding metaphor and set in bleak landscapes results ...

such as '' Wallander'', '' The Bridge'' and '' The Killing''. It formed the background for François Ozon's 2020 film ''

Summer of 85 ''Summer of 85'' (french: Été 85) is a 2020 romantic drama film written and directed by François Ozon, partly based on the 1982 novel ''Dance on My Grave'' by Aidan Chambers. It stars Félix Lefebvre and Benjamin Voisin. It was released in Fr ...

''.

References

External links

Website of Le Tréport - Eu - Mers

Ville du Tréport en photo, musée du Tréport, musée de la poupée contemporaine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treport Communes of Seine-Maritime Seaside resorts in France