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Audresselles |
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Audresselles
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Location within Nord-Pas-de-Calais region
Audresselles
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| Administration | |
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| Country | France |
| Region | Nord-Pas-de-Calais |
| Department | Pas-de-Calais |
| Arrondissement | Boulogne-sur-Mer |
| Canton | Marquise |
| Intercommunality | Terre des deux caps |
| Mayor | Roger Tourret (2001–2008) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 0–114 m (0–374 ft) (avg. 30 m/98 ft) |
| Land area1 | 5.72 km2 (2.21 sq mi) |
| Population2 | 685 (1999) |
| - Density | 120 /km2 (310 /sq mi) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 62056/ 62164 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Audresselles is a commune south of Cape Gris Nez in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.
The commune covers about 2000 acres (8 km²) of cultivated lands, two beaches, and seashore cliffs. Its original name was Oderzell.
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Between the end of English occupation in 1558 and the middle of the 17th century, Audresselles seigneury included Haringzelle hamlet; today, this is now a forest hiding the former German artillery batteries of Audinghen. This seigneury was owned by the Acary family, which gave some admirals to the French fleet and from whom most of the borough fishermen are descended.
An old fishers village, Audresselles has kept its characteristic features: its long houses with a colored strip along the lower part of the walls, in the village center, and somme villas of the "Belle Époque" in front of the English Channel. Professional fishing families still live in Audresselles, and one of them uses the village sand beach to land its ship. The traditional flobarts (little trunkated drakkars) are still used by the holiday yachtsmen.
The town has given its name to the blue European lobster.
Gulls, cormorants, jackdaws, loons, mallards, bitterns, sandpipers, snipes, oystercatchers, herons, curlews, egrets, guillemots, peregrine falcons, swans, and geese.
Some black-headed seals have settled down in the creeks behind the village since July 2006 and dislike to be disturbed, following the swimmers to the beach. Also present are Orcas (killer whales), pilot whales, dolphins and porpoises.
Plants of this region are those that can resist the salt-laden southwesterly wind. Species include Lyciet, privet, spindle-tree, eleagnus, speedwell, marram grass and Armeria maritima.
by Daniel Leunens, historian, formerly maire of Audresselles;