Nieppe

Nieppe Niepkerke
Commune
The town hall in Nieppe
Coat of arms
Location of Nieppe
Nieppe Show map of France Nieppe Show map of Hauts-de-France
Coordinates: 50°42′14″N 2°50′23″E
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Nord
Arrondissement	Dunkerque
Canton	Bailleul
Intercommunality	Flandre Intérieure
Government
• Mayor (2023–2026)	Marie Sandra[1]
Area ^1	17.3 km^2 (6.7 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	7,685
• Density	440/km^2 (1,200/sq mi)
Demonym	Nieppois(es)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	59431 /59850
Elevation	12–21 m (39–69 ft) (avg. 16 m or 52 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Nieppe (French pronunciation: [njɛp]; Dutch: Niepkerke) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.[3] It is in the Lys Plain and a portion of it is in the Lys Valley (Leiedal in Dutch).

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	5,341	—
1975	6,903	+3.73%
1982	7,238	+0.68%
1990	7,417	+0.31%
1999	7,470	+0.08%
2007	7,568	+0.16%
2012	7,412	−0.42%
2017	7,476	+0.17%
Source: INSEE[4]

Geography

It is situated by the Belgian border. It is located close to Armentières, 42 km southeast of Dunkerque (Dunkirk) and is connected by the A25 (15 km) to Lille. It borders the Belgian municipalities Heuvelland and Comines-Warneton.

Nieppe has a railway station served by TER trains from Calais-Ville station and Dunkerque to Lille-Flandres station. Its nearest airports are in Merville (18 km) and Lesquin (24 km)

Mayors

• 1790-1802: Jean-Marc Chieus
• 1802-1837: Constant Watelet de Messange
• 1837-1841: Pierre Portebois
• 1841-1848: Charles Vanmerris
• 1848-1865: Cyrille Delangre-Salembié
• 1865-1870: Edmond Watelet de Messange
• 1870-1871: Félix Gokelaere
• 1871-1875: Hippolyte Delbecque
• 1875-1890: Louis Loridan
• 1890-1898: Hippolyte Delbecque
• 1898-1906: Hector Pollet
• 1906-1939: Henri Vanuxeem
• 1939-1968: Jules Houcke [fr]
• 1968-1972: Renée Houcke

History

In its point of its economic view, Nieppe suffered numerous invasions and wars which devastated the area, especially the profit of strategic position of the heart of the agricultural area and more European productives, its strategic axis Lille-Dunkirk via Bailleul and Cassel, the axis, the today's A25.

Heraldry

Arms of Nieppe

The arms of Nieppe are blazoned : Quarterly 1&4: Sable, 6 bezants 3,2,1(Or); 2&3: Argent, a chevron between 3 roses gules.

Points of interests

• A local historic museum
• Château de Nieppe - features a treasure legend, its part and a centennial tree
• War cemeteries of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
  • Nieppe Communal Cemetery
  • Pont-D'Achelles Military Cemetery
  • Pont-de-Nieppe Communal Cemetery

People

• Line Renaud (born in 1928)
• Jules Houcke

Other

Nieppe features its own football (soccer) club FC Nieppe and its handball club (team). Nieppe also has a library named after Maurice Schumann, its painting and music school and K'Dane (a Nieppe (Nieppoise) dance school). Miss Cantine was created during the Second World War and was recreated and named on 31 March 2007. It features several funny faces on the solidarity of several Nieppois residents. Opened by Jules Houcke, mayor of Nieppe created and alimented a scholar cantine, opened equally for old people of the commune.

See also

• Communes of the Nord department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 30 November 2023.
2. "Populations de référence 2022" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 19 December 2024.
3. INSEE commune file
4. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE

External links

• Description du département du Nord (Description of the Nord Department) by François-Joseph Grille (d'Angers) Paris, Ed Sazerac & Duval, 1825-1830 (started in 1824) (in French)
• Ville de Nieppe