Auchy-lès-Hesdin

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Coordinates: 50°23′54″N 2°06′11″E / 50.3983333333, 2.10305555556

Administration
Commune of Auchy-lès-Hesdin
Location

Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Montreuil
Canton	Le Parcq
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes de l'Hesdinois
Mayor	Jean-Claude Darque
Statistics
Elevation	30 m–122 m (avg. 33 m)
Land area^¹	9,61 km²
Population^² (1999)	1759
- Density	183/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	62050/ 62770
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Auchy-lès-Hesdin is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais département in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Population
4 Places of interest
5 See also
6 External links
7 Notes

[edit] Geography

The weir on the Ternoise

Situated 16 miles(26km) east of Montreuil-sur-Mer, on the D94, by the banks of the Ternoise, a tributary of the river Canche. A large and impressive weir on the river is a tourist attraction.

[edit] History

Formerly called Auchy-les-Moines (eng:Monks), the town owes its origin to the monastery founded by Saint Sylvain, who came from Toulouse in 700. Destroyed by the Normans, the monastery was rebuilt in the 11th century by the Counts of Hesdin, and entrusted to the Benedictine monks of St. Bertin (see Saint-Omer) in 1072.

[edit] Population

Population Evolution
1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999
1769	1861	1944	1814	1720	1759
Census count starting from 1962 : Population without double counting

[edit] Places of interest

The church at Auchy les Hesdin

The pillars of the nave and the first span of the abbey choir date back to the middle of the 12th century, the last two sections of the choir around 1200. They are the only remnants of the original church, which had to be almost entirely rebuilt after its collapse in 1280.
In 1415, several of the knights killed at Agincourt were buried here, including the admiral of France, Jacques de Chatillon. Two decades later, the constant state of war forced the monks to desert the abbey, where they returned in 1457. Pillaged and burned by troops on several occasions during the 16th century, the buildings of the monastery were restored in the early 17th century. They were used as a textiles factory after the Revolution, and finally destroyed by a fire in 1834, with the exception of the abbey church.