FECAMP

This article appears in Volume V10, Page 231 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: FAT-FLA

FECAMP , a seaport and bathing resort of northern France, in the department of Seine-Inferieure, 28 m. N.N.E. of

Havre

HAVRE
HAVRE, LE

on the Western railway. Pop. (1906) 15,872. The town, which is situated on the English Channel at the mouth of the small river Fecamp, consists almost entirely of one street upwards of 2 M. in length. It occupies the bottom and sides of a narrow valley opening out towards the sea between high cliffs. The most important building is the abbey church of La Trinite, dating for the most part from 1175 to 1225. The central tower and the south portal (13th century) are the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

features of its simple exterior; in the interior, the decorative

work

WORK

, notably the chapel-screens and some fine stained glass, is remarkable. The hotel-de-ville with a municipal museum and library occupy the remains of the abbey buildings (18th century). The church of St Etienne With century) and the

Benedictine

BENEDICTINE

liqueur distillery,' a modern building which also contains a museum, are of some

interest

INTEREST

. A tribunal and chamber of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators and a nautical school, are among the public institutions. The port consists of an entrance channel nearly 400 yds. long leading to a tidal harbour and docks capable of receiving ships drawing 26 ft. at

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

-tide, 19 ft. at neap-tide. Fishing for herring and mackerel is carried on and the town equips a large

fleet

FLEET

for the codbanks of

Newfoundland

NEWFOUNDLAND

and Iceland. The

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

exports are oil-cake, flint, cod and

Benedictine

BENEDICTINE

liqueur. Imports include coal,timber, tar and hemp. Steam sawing, metal-founding, fish-salting, shipbuilding and repairing, and the manufacture of ship's-biscuits and fishing-nets are among the industries.
The town of Fecamp grew up round the nunnery founded in 658 to guard the relic of the True Blood which, according to the legend, was found in the trunk of a fig-tree drifted from Palestine to this spot, and which still remains the most precious treasure of the church. The

original

ORIGINAL

convent was destroyed by the North-men, but was re-established by Duke William Longsword as a

house

of canons regular, which shortly afterwards was converted into a Benedictine monastery. King Richard I. greatly enlarged this, and rebuilt the church. The town achieved some prosperity under the dukes of Normandy, who improved its harbour, but after the annexation of Normandy to France it was overshadowed by the rising port of

Havre

HAVRE
HAVRE, LE

.

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