Camiers

French commune|nomcommune=Camiers
région=Nord-Pas-de-Calais
département=Pas-de-Calais
arrondissement=Montreuil
canton=Étaples
insee=62201
cp=62176
maire=
mandat=
intercomm=
longitude=1.61444444444
latitude=50.5666666667
alt moy=23 m
alt mini=2 m
alt maxi=176 m
hectares=1,613
km²=16.13
sans=2,252
date-sans=1999
dens=139
date-dens=1999

Camiers is a French, commune in the "département" of Pas-de-Calais and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais "région".

Geography

The area of the commune is 16 km². The village of Camiers itself is small and stands just inland from the dunes on the south-west and west-facing coast just north of Étaples. The space between the village and the mouth of the River Canche is occupied by a nature reserve in the dunes. The local solid geology is the Cretaceous plateau of Artois with the Boulonnais just to the north. In its highest part, the commune rises onto the Upper Cretaceous at 176 metres but most lies on the levelled marine sand which in the medieval period, was off-shore.

The coastal road, the D940 now by-passes the village to the west while the main traffic between Calais and Abbeville is carried by the Autoroute A16 on the higher ground to the east. The Autoroute briefly passes through the eastern extremity of the commune.

History

Camiers belonged to the Lordship of Noailles. However the waters of the lagoon between the dunes and the shore of the solid geology, for many years, presented an obstacle to its development.

During the the First World War the flat lands were the site of the huge base depôt of the British army in France. It is usually known nowadays as Étaples camp. Through most of the war, close to it and part of the same complex, Camiers camp was the base depôt, in France, of the Machine Gun Corps. Its home base depôt was at Belton Park, near Grantham.

Administration

Demography

In 1999, there were 2,076 households of which 260 were of one person.

ites and monuments

*Camiers mill
*Saint Gabriel Plage. Location of the Grand Hôtel, which was destroyed by the sea in 1912.
*Sainte Cécile Plage. Most visitors go there for swimming.

Personalities linked with the commune

Most of the men of the MGC passed through Camiers. [http://www.kinnethmont.co.uk/1914-1918_files/jas-leith.htm This one must represent them] .

External links

* [http://www.ign.fr/affiche_rubrique.asp?rbr_id=1087&CommuneId=58739 Camiers on the "Institut Géographique National" site]
* [http://www.recensement.insee.fr/RP99/rp99/co_navigation.co_page?nivgeo=C&codgeo=62201&theme=ALL&typeprod=ALL&lang=FR&quelcas=LISTE Camiers on the Insee site]
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=query&req=Camiers Camiers on the Quid site]
* [http://www.lion1906.com/Pages/ResultatProximiteCoord.php?RadLat1=0.882554825139278&RadLong1=0.0281773711476021 The nearest communes to Camiers]
* [http://www.lion1906.com/Pages/ResultatLocalisation.php?InseeVille=620201 Find Camiers on the map of France]
* [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=50.5666666666667&longitude=1.61444444444444&zoom=8 Plan of Camiers on Mapquest]