Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue 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

Manche Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019.department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

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 ...

in north-western

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 ...

.INSEE commune file
/ref>

Toponymy

Saint-Vaast is the Norman name of Saint

Vedast Vedast or Vedastus, also known as Saint Vaast (in Flemish, Norman and Picard) or Saint Waast (also in Picard and Walloon), Saint Gaston in French, and Foster in English (died ) was an early bishop in the Frankish realm. After the victory of To ...

and Hougue is a

Norman language Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon. The name "Norman French" is sometimes used to descri ...

word meaning a "mound" or "loaf" and comes from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

word ''haugr''.

Geography

Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is part of the

canton of Val-de-Saire The canton of Val-de-Saire is an administrative division of the Manche department, northwestern France. It was created at the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. It consists of ...

and the

arrondissement of Cherbourg The arrondissement of Cherbourg is an arrondissement of France in the Manche department in the Normandy region. It lies entirely on the Cotentin Peninsula and has 144 communes. Its population is 189,748 (2016), and its area is . Composition The ...

. The town had a population of 1,712 in 2019. The island of

Tatihou Tatihou is an islet of Normandy in France with an area of . It is located to the east of the Cotentin peninsula just off the coast near Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. It is almost uninhabited, and is usually reached by amphibious craft although, being a ...

forms part of the Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue

History

Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is located in Normandy and was a part of the

Duchy of Normandy The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between King Charles III of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo. The duchy was named for its inhabitants, the Normans. From 1066 until 1204, as a result of the Norman c ...

. In 1001, near Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, Néel I de Saint-Saveur (related with Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte in the Cotentin Peninsula) (occasionally named Nigel or Niel), a Norman baron of the House of Saint-Sauveur ( fr), repulsed an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

incursion led by King Æthelred II; a pillaging raid in reprisal for the Viking expeditions into the

Anglo-Saxon kingdom The Heptarchy were the seven petty kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England that flourished from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century until they were consolidated in the 8th century into the four kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria, Wes ...

. The raid failed thanks to the effort of Neel, who exterminated the invaders at the Battle of Val-de-Saire. When

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

landed 12,000 men in France on 12 July 1346 and proceeded toward what would become the

battle of Crécy The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 in northern France between a French army commanded by King PhilipVI and an English army led by King EdwardIII. The French attacked the English while they were traversing northern France du ...

, it was on the sandy stretch that lies between La Hougue and St Vaast. The naval

Battle of La Hougue The Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue took place during the Nine Years' War, between 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.) and 4 June O.S. (14 June N.S.) 1692. The first was fought near Barfleur on 19 May O.S. (29 May N.S.), with later actions occurring ...

took place off the town in 1692. On 3 June 1692 during a heated battle with the Anglo-Dutch fleet, twelve French ships were sunk in the vicinity of the island of

, just off the coast of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. It was the decisive naval battle of the

Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

, also known as the

War of the English Succession The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

. Following the French defeat, two fortified towers were built from 1694 onwards on the mound at La Hougue and Tatihou Island by a student of Vauban, Benjamin de Combes, in order to defend the bay. The towers were inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

in 2008 as part of the

Fortifications of Vauban A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

site for their testimony to Vauban's work and its importance in the development of military architecture from the 17th through the 19th centuries. A French frigate squadron anchored at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue was attacked by a British squadron at the

action of 15 November 1810 The action of 15 November 1810 was a minor naval engagement fought during the British Royal Navy blockade of the French Channel ports in the Napoleonic Wars. British dominance at sea, enforced by a strategy of close blockade, made it difficult ...

, which ultimately led to the destruction of the French ship French frigate

Elisa The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presence ...

The harbor was developed during the course of the 19th century. The jetty was built between 1828 and 1845, followed by the quayside from 1846 to 1852. Later on, breakwaters were added around the harbor. In 1982, the port was closed off with two large hydraulic gates which keep the water level constant at low tide. This allowed the construction of a large marina which can accommodate 704 yachts, including 100 moorings for visitors. Nowadays, the post is shared by fishing boats and yachts. Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue was the first harbor to be freed by Allied Forces during World War II, in 1944.

A medieval whaling economy

Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue was a very active whaling center, as there was a dense population of the then common

gray whale The gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), also known as the grey whale,Britannica Micro.: v. IV, p. 693. gray back whale, Pacific gray whale, Korean gray whale, or California gray whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and bree ...

(which is now extinct in the Atlantic). The now rare

right whale Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus ''Eubalaena'': the North Atlantic right whale (''E. glacialis''), the North Pacific right whale (''E. japonica'') and the Southern right whale (''E. australis''). They are clas ...

was likely also taken. The first of what may prove to be many more gray whales found its way through the now ice-free

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

in 2010 so perhaps they will eventually breed off Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue once more.

Culture

Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue organize a regular Book Festival, "Ancres & Encres".

Jean Raspail Jean Raspail (, 5 July 1925 – 13 June 2020) was a French author, traveler, and explorer. Many of his books are about historical figures, exploration and indigenous peoples. He was a recipient of the prestigious French literary awards Grand Pri ...

and

Jean-Pierre Thiollet Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist. Primarily living in Paris, he is the author of numerous books and one of the national leaders of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CEDI), a ...

may be mentioned among the authors invited in the last ten years.

Twin towns

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...