Pihen-lès-Guînes

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Coordinates: 50°52′20″N 1°47′15″E / 50.8722222222, 1.7875

Commune of Pihen-lès-Guînes
Location
Administration
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Calais
Canton	Guînes
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes du Sud-Ouest du Calaisis
Mayor	Jean-Luc Marot (2008-2014)
Statistics
Elevation	23 m–121 m (avg. 51 m)
Land area¹	9,25 km²
Population² (2003)	470
- Density	42/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	62657/ 62340
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.

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

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

[edit] Geography

A farming village located 7 miles (11km) southwest of Calais, at the junction of the D243 and D244 roads.

[edit] History

The name of Pihen appeared for the first time in the founding charter of the abbey of Andres in 1084, in the form of Pithem, from the Germanic pit (wells ) + Heim (home, village), which became Pihen in the Calaisis and Boulonnais dialect, but -hem elsewhere. Pihem (near to Wizernes) is almost the same as Pihen, which led to so many errors with the mail that the commune decided to add ‘lès-Guînes’ to its name in 1923.

There is no doubt that the village is very old. Tombs have been discovered dating back to the medieval period, including shaped sarcophagi and skeletons buried directly in the chalk. Ancient thick, handmade tiles are repeatedly lifted to the surface of fields during ploughing. Mammoth tusks and the skull of a woolly rhino were uncovered during the construction of a departmental road.

In the early Middle Ages, Pihen was part of the county of Guînes then English from 1347 until 1558, when like all of the Calaisis, it was liberated by Francis, Duke of Guise, in 1558. The tribulations of Pihen were not over, however. At that time, the kings of France and Spain were at war and the territory of Pihen was in the combat zone, the Spaniards from neighbouring Flanders possessed the commune in 1596, lost it, but regained it in 1598. Most of the 13th century church was burnt down during this time.

[edit] Population

Population Evolution

1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2003
331	349	309	357	413	394	470
Census count starting from 1962 : Population without double counting

[edit] Places of interest

• The church of the Annonciation dating from the 13th century.
• The 19th century château de La Quennevacherie.

[edit] See also

Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

[edit] External links

• Pihen-lès-Guînes on the Insee website (French)
• Pihen-lès-Guînes on the Quid website (French)

[edit] Notes

• This article is based on the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted on May 29th 2008.