Hesdin

Hesdin
Town hall
Hesdin
Location within Nord-Pas-de-Calais region  Hesdin
Administration
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Montreuil
Canton	Hesdin
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes de l'Hesdinois
Mayor	Jean-Marie Roussel (2001–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	23–34 m (75–112 ft) (avg. 26 m or 85 ft)
Land area1	0.9 km2 (0.35 sq mi)
Population2	2,474  (2006)
- Density	2,749 /km2 (7,120 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	62447/ 62140
Website	http://www.ville-hesdin.fr/
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.

Hesdin is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.

Geography

The N39, from Arras to Montreuil, used to be the main thoroughfare of the town. In the 1950s, a circular route was created to help traffic flow. A second bypass was built in the 1980s, taking all through traffic well away from the town centre.
The Canche river flows through the centre of Hesdin.

History

Hesdin was a fief of the counts of Artois, vassals of the Counts of Flanders until 1180. When Philip, count of Flanders gave Artois as dowry to his niece Isabel de Hainault when she married Philip Augustus of France in 1180, Hesdin and the other seigneuries passed to France. Though subsequently the territory passed to the Dukes of Burgundy, Hesdin remained one of a handful of French strongholds, until in 1553 Emperor Charles V ordered the utter destruction of the old fortified town on a rise of ground and built the present town the following year, some 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the original site, on the banks of the Canche.
In 1639 the French laid siege to Hesdin and under Louis XIII, it was recaptured for France. Thus, though Hesdin has an ancient name and 16th century structures, there is no medieval town at all.
The most recent and resourceful book on the history of Hesdin is Promenades dans Hesdin by Regis Deparis (2004) (French)

Population

Historical population of Hesdin

Year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006
Population	3010	3105	3248	2977	2713	2686	2474
From the year 1962 on: population without double counting—residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) are counted only once.

Places of interest

Hesdin is dominated by the central square, the Place d'Armes overlooked by the 16th-17th century town hall. The contemporary Church of Notre Dame was begun in 1565 and completed in 1685.

The belfry of the town hall

Notable people

• Jacquemart de Hesdin (c. 1355– c. 1414), miniaturist and painter to the duc de Berry
• The Abbé Prévost, (April 1, 1697–1763), celebrated novelist known worldwide for his Manon Lescaut, was born in Hesdin.
• Henri Titelouze de Gournay (1871–1933)
• Clovis Normand
• François Dalle
• Jean-Louis Cottigny

Miscellaneous

The best day to visit Hesdin is market day, Thursday, when a large range of goods can be purchased although the clothes and furnishing materials sold in the main square are not good value. A good range of local produce can be purchased from the stalls in the surrounding streets.

Much information concerning the businesses, associations, events and important local contacts, can be found on the bilingual website Hesdin-Commerces.com in English or in French. Most of the towns artisans, boutiques and shops are represented on the website which was provided free of charge as an effort to boost commerce within the region.

Twinned with

London Borough of Havering in London, England.

See also

• Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

References

• INSEE commune file

External links

• Hesdin on the Insee website(French)
• Hesdin on the Quid website (French)
• Hesdin (French)