Hesdin

Coordinates: 50°22′25″N 2°02′17″E / 50.37361°N 2.03806°E / 50.37361; 2.03806
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Hesdin
Heusdin
Part of Hesdin-la-Forêt
Town hall
Town hall
Coat of arms of Hesdin
Coat of arms
Location of Hesdin
Map
Hesdin is located in France
Hesdin
Hesdin
Hesdin is located in Hauts-de-France
Hesdin
Hesdin
Coordinates: 50°22′25″N 2°02′17″E / 50.37361°N 2.03806°E / 50.37361; 2.03806
CountryFrance
RegionHauts-de-France
DepartmentPas-de-Calais
ArrondissementMontreuil
CantonAuxi-le-Château
CommuneHesdin-la-Forêt
Area
1
0.9 km2 (0.3 sq mi)
Population
 (2022)[1]
2,225
 • Density2,500/km2 (6,400/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal code
62140
Elevation23–34 m (75–112 ft)
(avg. 26 m or 85 ft)
Websitehesdin.fr
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Hesdin (French pronunciation:

West Flemish: Heusdin) is a former commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.[2] On 1 January 2025, it was merged into the new commune of Hesdin-la-Forêt.[3]

Geography

The N39, from

Montreuil
, used to be the main thoroughfare of the town. In the 1950s, a circular route was created to help traffic flow. A second bypass was built in the 1980s, taking all through traffic well away from the town centre.

The Canche river flows through the centre of Hesdin.

History

Church of Notre Dame in 1918

Hesdin was a fief of the

Philip Augustus of France
in 1180, Hesdin and the other seigneuries passed to France.

At the end of the 11th century, Hesdin gained renown for the

automata in Europe.[4] These included mechanical monkeys covered in badger fur, mechanized fountains, a large sundial surrounded by lions and leopards, and a bellows-operated organ.[4]: 124  Over the years additional automata were added, including creations such as a mechanical king and an indoor fountain with mechanical birds. Guillaume de Machaut, in his poem Le Remede de Fortune, characterized them as "the marvels, the delights, the inventions, the engines, the contrivances, the water courses, the strange things that were enclosed there."[4]: 124  By the 1380s, the automata had fallen into disrepair, until Philip the Good renovated them again in the 1430s.[4]: 130  A 1433 bill of account recounts numerous mechanical amusements, including machines that played pranks on the guests as well as angels and figures that spoke and directed visitors.[4]
: 131 

Though subsequently the territory passed to the

Emperor Charles V ordered the utter destruction of the old fortified town on a rise of ground and built the present town the following year, some 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the original site, on the banks of the Canche. The unfortified village of Vieil-Hesdin
was later built on the original site.

In 1639 the French laid

Louis XIII
, it was recaptured for France. Thus, though Hesdin has an ancient name and 16th century structures, there is nothing left of the medieval town.

During

SS operated a subcamp of the V SS construction brigade, in which mostly Soviet and Polish prisoners were subjected to slave labour.[5] In August 1944, due to Allied advance, the Germans dissolved the subcamp and deported its prisoners to subcamps of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp.[5] In 1975, a memorial plaque and a small museum was established at the site of the subcamp.[5]

In 2014 Hesdin elected a 22-year-old law student, Stéphane Sieczkowski-Samier, as Mayor. Sieczkowski-Samier became the youngest mayor in France and is nicknamed "Petit Sarko" (little Sarkozy) in the French press as a reference to the previous French President Nicolas Sarkozy who is from the same political party.[6]

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1968 3,105—    
1975 3,248+0.65%
1982 2,977−1.24%
1990 2,713−1.15%
1999 2,686−0.11%
2007 2,409−1.35%
2012 2,178−2.00%
2017 2,225+0.43%
Source: INSEE[7]

Places of interest

Church of Notre Dame

Hesdin is dominated by the central square, the Place d'Armes overlooked by the 16th-17th-century town hall. The town hall, with its large belfry, was inscribed on the

World Heritage List in 2005 as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site, because of its historical importance as the center of municipal power within the region.[8]
The contemporary Church of Notre Dame was begun in 1565 and completed in 1685.

Notable people

Events

Thursday is market day in Hesdin, when a large range of local produce and more typical inexpensive market items can be purchased from the stalls in the surrounding streets.

In the first two weeks of August the town has the fete of the Cochon Rose (Pink Piglet) which includes a variety of events including a Sunday Brocante (flea market) which is the biggest in the region.[10]

Twinned with

See also

References

  1. ^ "Populations de référence 2022" [Reference populations 2022] (PDF) (in French). INSEE. December 2024.
  2. ^ INSEE commune file
  3. ^ Arrêté du 16 octobre 2024 portant création de la commune nouvelle d'Hesdin-la-Forêt, Légifrance, retrieved 16 January 2025
  4. ^
    ISBN 9780812223576
    .
  5. ^ a b c "Hesdin". aussenlager-buchenwald.de (in German). Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Le "petit Sarko" Stéphane Sieczkowski, élu maire à 22 ans". 31 March 2014.
  7. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  8. ^ "Belfries of Belgium and France". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Jean Pierre Jumez - Biography -".
  10. ^ Fête du Cochon Rose Archived 2013-02-13 at archive.today

Further reading

  • Deparis, Regis (2004) Promenades dans Hesdin (in French)
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