Abbeville

Sister cities

• Burgess Hill

History

The subsoil contains many vestiges of the Pleistocene. This discovery was a founding element of prehistory as a science. The name Abbeville has been adopted to name a category of Paleolithic These stone tools which are some of the earliest found in Europe, were chipped on both sides so as to form a sharp edge, were known as Abbevillian handaxes or bifaces, but recently the term 'Abbevillian' is becoming obsolete as the earlier form of stone tool, not found in Europe, is known as the Oldowan chopper. Some of these artifacts are displayed at the Musee Boucher-de-Perthes. A more refined and later version of handaxe production was found in the Abbeville/Somme River district. The more refined handaxe became known as the Acheulean industry, named after Saint-Acheul, today a suburb of Amiens. It retained some importance into the Bronze Age. In the 7th century, the Benedictine monks of Saint-Valéry, Saint-Josse, Saint-Saulve de Montreuil, Forest-Montiers, Balance and Valloires cleared the woods that were close to their monasteries. The Frankish king Dagobert I then gave part of the forest of Crécy, the hermitage became the : it is the Act of birth of the abbatial field of Abbeville. The name, Abbeville, comes from the Latin and means "town (or more exactly) field of Abbots" (of Saint-Riquier). The first historical mention of Abbeville, in the chronicle of Hariulf, dates to 831 AD. It was a small island in the Somme, inhabited by fishermen who took refuge there with their boats and had fortified it against barbarian invasions from the north. The Abbot Angilbert built a castle to defend this island, which depended on the Abbey of Saint-Riquier. under the dependence of the Abbots of Saint-Riquier. Subsequently, the silting up of the Bay of Somme forced the sea to recede by ,…

Geography

Abbeville is located on the river Somme, from its modern mouth in the English Channel. The majority of the town is located on the east bank of the Somme, as well as on an island. It is located at the head of the Abbeville Canal, and is northwest of Amiens and approximately from Paris. It is also as the crow flies from the Baie de Somme and the English Channel. In the medieval period, it was the lowest crossing point on the Somme and it was nearby that Edward III's army crossed shortly before the Battle of Crécy in 1346. Just halfway between Rouen and Lille, it is the historical capital of the County of Ponthieu and maritime Picardy. *Émonville Park takes its name from one of its owners Arthur Foulc d'Émonville, an amateur botanist, who bought a part of the in order to accommodate a garden and to construct a mansion, which now houses the study and heritage section of the Robert Mallet municipal library. The remains of the priory include the entrance arch, current main entrance of the garden located on Place Clemenceau, as well as some buildings which make up the Saint-Pierre School, including the remarkable Chapel of Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul (now in a very poor state). This place is considered by some to be the origin of Abbeville, because it was the location of the first château of the Counts of Ponthieu, called castrum. It is assumed that this place could have been the location of the farm of Abbatisvilla, dependent upon the Abbey of Saint-Riquier. *The suburbs of La Bouvaque and Thuison are located to the north of the city. The municipal park of La Bouvaque, bordered by the Boulevard de la République, consists of the La Bouvaque pond and Collart meadows, former settling ponds of the sugar factory. It was in Thuison that the Carthusian monastery of Saint-Honoré…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,759
• Black-headed Gull

  Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,412
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,358
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,310
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,265
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,224
• Little Egret/Western Reef-Heron

  Egretta garzetta (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,045
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,026

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2008-11-26
  France
• M 3 — 2008-11-19
  3 km NNW of Varengeville-sur-Mer, France
• M 3.1 — 2008-11-18
  13 km NW of Varengeville-sur-Mer, France
• M 3 — 2008-11-18
  4 km NW of Varengeville-sur-Mer, France
• M 3.1 — 2008-11-18
  13 km NW of Varengeville-sur-Mer, France
• M 3.1 — 2005-06-01
  3 km N of Grandvilliers, France