February 7, 2016

2276 FRANCE (Normandy) - The store À Jeanne D'Arc in Nacqueville before WWII


The village of Nacqueville was originally about 1 km inland, with only a few fishing huts on the long beach. In the beginning of the 20th century, the coastal strip was developed as a resort, along with a picturesque 'Village Normande' for tourists next to the original hamlet. During WWII was almost obliterated by Allied bombardments, because was close to a radar station, and its church was dynamited by the German army. In 1964 Urville-Hague and Nacqueville were united, forming Urville-Nacqueville.

Among the points of interest is the 16th-century Chateau de Nacqueville in a landscaped park. To the west there is the 16th-century Manoir du Dur Ecu, built on the site of a Roman villa. The long sandy beach (the site of the last hostile British landing in 1758, the raid on Cherbourg) is bounded by a Napoleonic fort on a rocky promontory, with another Napoleonic fort and battery on the outcrops above the village. Both were adapted and utilised by the Germans during WWII as part of the Atlantic Wall.

About the stamps
Three of the stamps are part of the definitive series depicting Marianne, issued on  July 16, 2014, about which I wrote here. The last stamp is part of the series Rugby World Cup, New Zealand 2011, issued on July 11, 2011.

References
Urville-Nacqueville - Wikipedia

Sender: 
Sent from Valence (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes / France), on 23.12.2015

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