Houlgate

Houlgate is a common French, located in the department of the Calvados and the area Basse-Normandie.

Its inhabitants is called the Houlgatais .

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Geography

Houlgate is in the valley of the Drochon (formerly spelled Drauchon). The valley is mainly built or used for the breeding. The high parts of the city are covered by both wood of Houlgate: The Bois de Boulogne and the Wood of the Hillock of Caumont.

In the East of the center is the golf of Houlgate and the pond of fresh water " fishing; Ponds of Drochon". The common is separated from the two cities close to Divine-on-Sea and Villers-on-Sea by cliffs. The cliffs in the East, of dark color, are called the Falaises of the Black Cows .

History

Houlgate was at a time only one simple hamlet in the commune of Beuzeval. Beuzeval belonged to the Doyenné of Beaumont and the Sergenterie of Dives.

With the Moyen-âge it was called Bovalis, became Eclesia-of-Bovalis then Boseval, name which one finds writes thus in 1077. Some explain the name saying valley of oxen; others give him an origin Germanique.

Until XIX^ème century, Beuzeval consisted only of some houses, farms, scattered in the valley of the Drochon or with hillside. On left bank of the Drochon, the brook (river) which crosses Houlgate, was the hamlet of the sea, consistent of some houses, a tilery and picturesque Moulin Landry.

The sea was regarded for a long time as a danger, such of it is the proof of the situation of the old church of Beuzeval, located at 3 km in the grounds.

All started on left bank of Drochon between 1845 and 1850; the fashion of the sea bathings came in Beuzeval. Some tourists of Caen then of Paris started to come in Beuzeval for their holidays. With the increasing number of tourists, a house of hosts out of wooden was built. The Imbert Hotel was built in 1877 and in 1907 its tower came to be added. The village of sea is called now Beuzeval-the-Baths and attracts the Protestant population.

The Right Bank of Drochon, broader and punt remains not developed. A company, the Société of Real Construction (S.C.I.) is formed 12 years later in 1858 with development plans of Beuzeval. Its goal is to build with method and according to an urban plan. The company is rested by 3 men, a financier, a lawyer and a deputy. The SCI bought a good part of the ground and divided it into properties, draws the lines for the streets and built a wall protecting the village incipient from the sea. From here a few years of the villas (called country cottages) are built of such a quality that they are always present today in sea front only the disappeared properties having been destroyed during the Second world war.

In 1859 the Large Hotel is built, including/understanding 120 rooms, each one luxurious and with its servants. In 1860 the Chapelle Notre-Dame de Houlgate is built. it replaces old the church which was located too much far and became too small to adapt the growing population of Houlgate and Beuzeval. The first casino is built, out of wood and is opposite the Large Hotel.

The village took the name of Houlgate, name of the hill in the North-East of the maritime village. The town hall is built in the north of Drochon, as well as a school and a post office. At this time there were two distinct vacation villages. Beuzeval-the-baths continued its development and in 1863 a hotel complex is built to adapt the Protestants visiting the village. A temple is built. The two villages grow independently.

The railroad arrives at Houlgate in 1882, the station is built between the two villages. Walk with the foot of cliffs between Divine-on-Sea and Houlgate so much dreaded becomes a memory when the railroad is built. Indeed, the line is built on a retaining wall along the estuary the Divine ones with a walk in front of and a road behind the way. The line is then connected only to Mézidon-Canon with a service of train for Caen. They are only two years later, in 1884 that the line towards Villers-on-Sea is finished, connecting Houlgate to Paris by Trouville-on-Sea - Deauville. The train then takes 4 hours to connect Paris Gare Saint-Lazare to Houlgate and did not ask change.

In 1898 the village of Houlgate becoming larger than its rival of Beuzeval-The-Baths, the name of the commune is changed into Beuzeval-Houlgate. The name still changes in 1905 to only become “Houlgate”.

After the War of 1870 and the First World War many houses is built, according to the plans drawn up by the SCI. The Large Hotel is increased in 1895 and its rotunda added to the western southern corner of the building. The post office then moves appendix of the town hall in its own buildings. A public school for girls and another for boys are also built in the surroundings. The Walk is finished in 1911. The village accommodates many crowned celebrities and heads.

Although the village had lost its bipolar configuration, the catholic population prefers Right Bank whereas the Protestant population prefers left bank. This is confirmed by the visit of the Protestant Queen Ranavalo of Madagascar with Beuzeval-The-Baths and of the visit of the catholic Queen Isabelle II of Spain to the Large Hotel.

Administration

Demography

Majority of the " Houlgatais" come from Houlgate, Divine-on-Sea, Cabourg, Calvados or Paris.

1905:365 (Beuzeval) + 826 (Houlgate) inhabitants
1985:1835 inhabitants
1990:1844 inhabitants
2005:1944 inhabitants

Places and monuments

Guillaume column

This column commemorates the loading of William the Conqueror for the conquest of England in 1066 (on the beach).

The Manor of Beuzeval

To 3 km of the coast the Manor of Beuzeval, built at the XIXe century is. The manor is built on the site of an older medieval castle.

In the past in the common of Gonneville-on-Sea, it is in 1825 qu ' after reconsideration of the grounds of the manor that the communal limits were recalled and masonry definitively placed on the territory of Beuzeval.

Between 1620 and 1640, the Castle of Beuzeval belonged to the stronghold of the Aitch. In addition to the castle, the stronghold comprised a vault where a chaplain was affected.

Jean d' Aché (the Lord of the Manor at the time) accompanied William the Conqueror in 1066 with the Conquest by England. August 6th, 1066, a few days before the departure for England, Guillaume had to take refuge with the Castle of Beuzeval because of a storm. The next morning, Guillaume thanked his host Pierre de Sinvillex for his hospitality and ordered to him to accompany it in England. Pierre died at the time of the battle of Hastings.

The castle remained without use before the XIXe century when the structure fue built. After the defeat in 1815 with the Battle of Waterloo and the fall of the First Empire, the area was occupied by the Prussian troops. During the Second world war, German occupied the manor once more and installed their general headquarter there. One finds many vestiges of this presence with in particular of the bunkers and the trenches. The Rommel Marshal had done of them one of his crossing points when it carried out his control of the Atlantic Wall. Frequently taken for target by allied aviation, a sailplane was mislaid there the day of the unloading.

The Castle of Dramard

In top of the Way of the Red-Grounds and with km of the center of Houlgate the Castle of Dramard is, a masonry of the XVIIe century, built out of stone with a broad flanked central body of two wings. The Castle was built on the site of an older castle, called Priauré de Mennetot.

In 1616, the castle was bought by Pierre de Dramard, Conseiller of the King, who became Sieur of Gonneville, Beuzeval and Mennetot.

In 1772, Pierre Louis Bonnet, Lord of Meautry, Maria young lady Gabrielle de Dramard. Pierre became the mayor of Caen in 1791 and in 1792 Calvados under the French revolution was elected appointed.

The castle is in good state and is now a hotel.

The Field Foucher-of-Careil

Castle Foucher de Careil, or castle of Caumont: Castle Louis XIII, built in 1863 for Louis Alex Foucher de Careil at the place even where William the Conqueror camped with his army into 1066 before invading England. A surmounted gantry of a balcony reigning on the level of the first stage, softens the austerity of this traditional building, composed of a central body between two projecting houses. At the entry of the field, a country cottage of néo-Norman style was built in 1893, by the architects Baumier wire and Nicolas, for Foucher de Careil wire.

Overhanging the commune since the heights the field Foucher de Careil accommodates from now on the summer camps of the commune of the Garenne-Doves (92) as well as the recreational center of the town of Houlgate during July. The children benefit then from the 33 hectares of the field for their activities (mini-motor bike, pony, big games whose it from now on " celebrates; play of the indiens" , etc).

The maternal ones are comfortably installed in the castle, the 6 - 8 years place them with the " villa" (the néo-Norman châlet), 9 - 11 years in the tents of the " camp jaune" to the foot of the castle and 12 - 14 years in those of the " camp bleu".

Surrounded by the forest, the castle is visible since the commune only of the place of the church. Private property belonging to the commune of the Garenne-Doves, the field is not opened with the public and is not of tourist interest because of reconversion of the places to accommodate the young people garennois.

Personalities related to the commune

William the Conqueror, also called Guillaume the Bastard one, Guillaume II of Normandy, William the Conqueror, and, finally, Guillaume Ier of England; England in 1066
Michel Weber, writer, known invades under the pseudonym of Nino .
Gaston Menier, celebrates chocolate seller who had the Menier Villa.
A. Lenormand, author of many comedies.
Emile Deschanel, writer and important politician.
Andre Maurois (Emile Solomon Wilhelm Herzog), writer celebrates of his time.
Emile Zola, famous writer.
Marcel Proust, writer, who was accustomed to going in the Lerossignol florist.
Gaston Calmette (1858-1914), important political figure.
Calmann-Levy, editor.
William Howard Taft, president of the United States (1908-1918).
the Princess Cecile of Greece and Denmark, Large-Duchess of Hesse
the Queen Victoria.
Isabelle II, Queen of Spain.
Ranavalona, Queen of Madagascar.
Alexandra Fyodorovna, woman of Nicolas II of Russia, Empress of Russia.
Roland Garros, celebrates aviator, who broke the record of altitude on the beach of Houlgate.
Claude Debussy, celebrates musician.
Bréguet, aeronautical manufacturer, who had a villa with Houlgate.
Auguste and Louis Light, inventors of the cinema and who had a villa with Houlgate.
Janine Boissard, French contemporary writer having a villa with Houlgate.
Marcel Upstream, singer having a villa with Houlgate on the dam.

Culture

the jazz festival Festi Jazz , created in 1997, takes place every year, in August.

References

Jean Bayle, Ports and beaches of the Flowered Coast , ISBN 2-85480-625-5

See too

Flowered Coast
Common of the Apple-brandy

External bonds

Site of the commune of Houlgate

Houlgate on the site of INSEE
Houlgate on the site of the Quid
Houlgate on Google Maps

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