Dieppe

Dieppe, a seaport in the French department of Seine-Inférieure, on the English Channel, 40 miles N. of Rouen by rail. It is situated among chalk cliffs, at the mouth of the river Arques, and is regularly built. It has a castle (1433), now occupied as barracks, commanding the town and the harbour, which admits vessels of 600 tons. Dieppe has a college and a school of navigation, and there is a fine Gothic church of the 13th century, as well as a handsome bathing establishment and casino. Being one of the principal watering-places of France, the town has a great accession of visitors during the summer months. It manufactures clocks, lace, and tobacco; and its carved articles of horn, bone, and ivory have long been famous. There are also shipbuilding yards and distilleries; and the fisheries, which are important, employ almost the whole of the population of Pollet, one of the two suburbs of the town. In 1066 Duke William sailed from Dieppe to the conquest of England. It was then a mere village, but its importance steadily increased, until it reached the heyday of its prosperity in the period between the middle of the 14th century and the end of the 17th. Expeditions sailed hence for the west coast of Africa, where Petit Dieppe was founded at the mouth of the Gambia; and many of the early voyages to Canada were made from this port. A terrible bombardment by the English and Dutch, however, destroyed all but two or three buildings in 1694; and though rebuilt, the town never recovered its importance, and even before the rise of Havre had already sunk to a secondary port. Nevertheless, packets still ply regularly to Newhaven. The town is a favourite landing-place of English tourists, and its import and export trade is chiefly with England and Norway. Pop. (1872) 19,757; (1891) 22,359.