Our good reasons to love this village. We love its cobbled streets, its rue du Clape-en-Bas and its small thatched-roof houses, its four alleys, vestiges of the medieval period that allow you to come and go from one district to another, its private mansions that can be guessed behind their wrought iron gate and its many religious buildings: it is not for nothing that we called Montreuil-sur-Mer “the city of 36 bell towers”! We also take the time to stroll along the 3 km of ramparts erected between the 13th and 17th centuries with breathtaking views of the Canche valley and the surrounding towns.
Two words of history. In the tenth century, Montreuil-sur-Mer housed only a monastery and a few houses. But located at a strategic crossroads, perched 50 meters above sea level, the village arouses envy and passes into the hands of Hugues Capet, who became king of the Franks in 987, who brought it into the royal domain. Montreuil-sur-Mer even becomes the only seaport in the kingdom.
After the plundering of the city by the troops of Charles V and Henry VIII in 1537, François I er erected an urban wall which will be completed, thirty years later, by a citadel on the site of the old medieval castle. A citadel which will undergo seven work campaigns. Even Vauban put his two cents in it in 1670, judging it ” badly built ».
In 1916, and for three years, the British Headquarters moved to Montreuil-sur-Mer under the command of Marshal Douglas Haig. A statue bearing his effigy also sits on the Place du Théâtre.
The monument or the flagship site. The abbey of Saint-Saulve, which sits on Place Gambetta, is a must. Built in the 12th century in place of a monastery erected two centuries earlier by Breton monks, the church was to allow more and more pilgrims to approach the relics of Saint Saulve, bishop of Amiens in the 7th century. . The site contains one of the most precious treasures of the Church of the North of France, including a richly decorated wooden cross dating from the seventh century and belonging to Saint Austreberthe.
The Vert de Montreuil in good shape
Like the famous tulle of the eponymous city of Corrèze, the city of Montreuil-sur-Mer had a fabric in its name: the Vert de Montreuil. It was a precious cloth very popular and therefore copied by the Flemings and the Italians. At the end of the Middle Ages, in the 15th century, its manufacture declined when the Canche silted up and its export thus became less easy.
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ID card
Origin of the name. From the Latin monasteriolium which means “small monastery”. Located 10 km from the Channel, the town owes its misleading name of “sur-Mer” to the fact that until the Middle Ages, boats sailed up the Canche to Montreuil, which made the village a seaport. The name has remained even if the official name is simply Montreuil.
Heraldry. Coat of arms “Or with two fess Azure, a chief of the same charged with three fleurs-de-lys also of gold”.
Population and density. 2014 Montreuillois and Montreuilloises. 706.7 inhabitants per km².
Surface. 2,9 km2.
Altitude. Between 2 and 50 meters approximately.
Stream. La Canche, la Slack, le Baron, le Selles.
Tradition. The sound and light show Wretched (late July-early August) takes up the plot of Victor Hugo’s novel. Dates and prices on lesmiserables-montreuil.com.
Particular signs. The town is nicknamed “the Carcassonne of the North” thanks to the charms of its citadel and its very well preserved ramparts. Victor Hugo came to Montreuil-sur-Mer in 1837. He made the city the theater for the first part of his masterpiece, Wretched. Jean Valjean is even mayor of the town under the name of Monsieur Madeleine.
Town hall: 16, place Gambetta, tel. 03 21 06 01 33. ville-montreuil-sur-mer.fr
House of Tourism and Heritage: 11-13, rue Pierre-Ledent, tel. 03 21 06 04 27. destinationmontreuilsurmer.com
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