Sangatte

Sangatte (West Flemish: Zandgat) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department on the northern coast of France on the English Channel. The name is of Flemish origin, meaning hole or gap in the sand.

Sangatte

Zandgat
Commune
A general view of Sangatte
Coat of arms
Location of Sangatte
Sangatte
Sangatte
Coordinates: 50°56′51″N 1°45′27″E
CountryFrance
RegionHauts-de-France
DepartmentPas-de-Calais
ArrondissementCalais
CantonCalais-1
IntercommunalityCA Grand Calais Terres et Mers
Government
 • Mayor (2014-2020) Guy Allemand
Area
1
14.28 km2 (5.51 sq mi)
Population
 (2017-01-01)[1]
4,820
 • Density340/km2 (870/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
62774 /62231
Elevation0–151 m (0–495 ft)
(avg. 4 m or 13 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Engineering

Sangatte is the location for the Channel Tunnel's French cooling station, its British counterpart being at Samphire Hoe. In addition, it is the French end-point for the HVDC Cross-Channel, the connection between the UK and French electricity grids.

History

Pioneering cross-Channel flight

'Blériot-Plage' is named to commemorate Louis Blériot who, on the July 25, 1909, was the first person to fly across the English Channel. He flew from the beach at Sangatte to the White Cliffs of Dover, to claim the prize offered by the Daily Mail. The crossing took 37 minutes in his aeroplane, Blériot XI, built in collaboration with Raymond Saulnier. It was powered by a 3-cylinder 25 horsepower (19 kW) engine.

At the western end of the beach, a statue of the French aviator Hubert Latham overlooks the sea. Latham was another pioneering cross-channel pilot whose earlier attempt on July 19 had failed.[2]

Spitfire

Sangatte is also the landing location of Supermarine Spitfire Mark 1a N3200 of No. 19 Squadron RAF, which was forced to land at the beach after receiving damage to its radiator from shots fired by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 of JG 2[3] during Operation Dynamo on 26 May 1940, having shot down a Junkers Ju 87 shortly beforehand to protect the evacuating soldiers at Dunkirk. The plane was recovered from the sand at Sangatte in 1986, and restoration work commenced in 2000, which continued until 2014 when works completed, the aircraft having been repaired to a fully airworthy state.[4]

Refugee camp

Sangatte was the location of a refugee camp set up by the French Red Cross in 1999 as a result of an influx of migrants attempting to travel to the United Kingdom. They were mainly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo.[5] Under pressure from the UK government, Nicolas Sarkozy (then Minister of the Interior), ordered its closure in 2002.[6] There were riots in 2001 and 2002, the year the camp closed.[7]

Population
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
19683,340—    
19753,332−0.03%
19823,199−0.58%
19903,326+0.49%
19994,046+2.20%
20074,549+1.48%
20124,719+0.74%
20174,820+0.42%
Source: INSEE[8]

Twin towns

In the BBC Two show Top Gear, the three presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May crossed the Channel in an amphibious Nissan Navara and instead of finishing at Calais after leaving Dover, they ended up 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) along the coast in Sangatte.

See also

References
  1. "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. Flight Magazine 30 March 1951 p.365: Portrait of a Pioneer by Colin Boyle
  3. Ranter, Harro. "Incident Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia N3200, 26 May 1940". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  4. "The Spitfire lost for almost 50 Years". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  5. Rahman-Jones, Imran (24 October 2016). "The history of the Calais 'Jungle' camp and how it's changed since 1999". BBC Newsbeat. Archived from the original on 9 March 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  6. Le Monde, 7 mai 2007: http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-823448,36-906438@51-823374@45-100,0.html
  7. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/03/calais-mayor-threatens-block-port-uk-fails-help-migrants
  8. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE

(In French language)

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