Our good reasons to love this village. First for his walk towards the Pointe du Hourdel, very early in the morning, with the secret hope of seeing seals pointing the tip of their noses. It is not won and it is better to be accompanied by a guide to discover them. The marina of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme deserves our attention. This is the opportunity to discover the boats returning from fishing and the fishermen’s quarter with its narrow and typical houses. On the upper town side, we dive into a piece of the city’s history: the old town has kept a medieval side between the ramparts, the Guillaume towers, the Harold tower, the castle, the abbey …
Two words of history. In the 7th century, the monk Walaric (later known as Walric then Valery, without an acute accent on the “e”) came to evangelize the territory of Leuconaus, in the Bay of Somme. When he died, his disciples founded a Benedictine abbey there, which was to be the cradle of the village. In the 11th century, Leuconaus, which became Saint-Valery (still without an emphasis on the “e”) acquired a defense system – ramparts, towers, fortified gates – because it had become a strategic location. Saint-Valery will see Charlemagne pass in 800, Hugues Capet in 981, William the Conqueror in 1066, Joan of Arc in 1430, Louis XIII in 1638, Napoleon I in 1810 and Charles de Gaulle in 1949.
If the upper town still retains vestiges of fortifications, the lower part is marked by the Courtgain, the fishermen’s quarter, with its small brick houses in a maze of small streets.
The flagship monument. The sailors’ chapel, erected on the heights of Cape Cornu in the 7th century on the site of the tomb of Saint Valery and rebuilt in the 19th century in a neo-Gothic style, has checkerboard walls with an alternation of limestone and flint. Many ex-voto are hung there by the families of the fishermen in gratitude to St. Valery.
ID card
Origin of the name. In the 10th century, the village of Leuconaus became Saint-Valery, named after the monk who evangelized this part of Picardy (Walaric, transformed into Walric then into Valery, without an accent on the “e”, we insist). During the Revolution, the village will be called La-Montagne-sur-Somme.
Heraldry. Coat of arms “Azure with a boat of gold on a sea of silver, a chief also Azure charged with three fleur-de-lys of gold, with a component border of Argent and Gules”.
Population. 2,510 Valericans.
Area and density. 10.5 km². 239 inhabitants per km².
Altitude. Between 1 and 40 meters.
Traditions. The Transbaie, a 15 km race between Saint-Valery-sur-Somme and Le Crotoy, attracts thousands of athletes every year in June. The village organizes a theater festival in June, commemorates the departure of William the Conqueror for England in July and pays homage to the sailors who disappeared during the Festival of the Sea.
Particular signs. In 1066, the Duke of Normandy William the Conqueror made a stopover in Saint-Valery before setting out to conquer England. In December 1430, Joan of Arc was detained in the village before being sent to Rouen for trial. Victor Hugo wrote his poem Oceano Nox after a stay in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. Anatole France wrote there Pierre Nozière which contains many descriptions of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. Eugène Boudin and Edgar Degas represented the village respectively in Saint-Valery, the mouth of the Somme (1891) and Street in the village of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme (1985).
Town hall: 19, place Saint-Martin. Phone. : 03 22 60 82 16. saint-valery-sur-somme.fr
Tourist office: 2, place Guillaume-le-Conquérant. tourisme-baiedesomme.fr
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