Wimereux: from sand to stone via iron:

a viaduct, a railway station, a church, a seaside resort

In Wimereux, with the partnership of the City, the Association of Friends of the Church (AEICW) has federated the local associations for the valorization of the Heritage (civil, religious, military) to invite you to look up at the viaduct and to look at the construction of the railway track in Wimille, with its station, which was the decisive element in the genesis of the seaside resort of Wimereux (currently classified Remarkable Heritage Site). An independent urbanization of Wimille was created, with its city center, around its church (currently closed for restoration).

On the program:

Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 September from 10h to 18h

*Exhibits (with additional media: mock-ups and videos) *

• «The train and the viaduct of Wimereux, between heritage and modernity» exhibition, by the Wimille-Wimereux Historical Circle.
• Models and objects related to the train, by the Wimille-Wimereux Historical Circle
• The model of the viaduct and the station of Wimille-Wimereux (on a circuit in the H0 scale of 13 meters long! on 2m wide), faithful replica according to the historical documents by the Ferrovipathes of Calaisis
• The building sites yesterday and today at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, exhibition by the AEICW.
• Virtual tour of the church now closed due to ongoing restoration by AEICW
• The first hotels and chalets, exhibition by AEICW
• Seaside architecture in photos (displayed and projected) by the Charm of Wimereux

4 Workshops:*

• stone cutter, by Damien (from Wimereux) and the company Chevalier Nord (which intervenes in the restoration of the church of Wimereux)
• candles, by the Ciergerie Leroy (de Boulogne-sur-mer)
• stained glass windows, by Dylan Duchaud (Craftsman in Ambleteuse)
• campanary art (bells) and monumental watchmaking, by Bernard Paschal, campanary craftsman (from Wimereux)
  Departure for a discovery of the civil and seaside heritage around the viaduct and the train station in-situ commented by the guides of the Charme de Wimereux.
• Concert * "La Musique nous met en train", by l'Harmonie Municipale which topic is about trains (at the entrance)

In Wimereux, the viaduc leads the way !
The viaduct, built between 1859 and 1863 by engineer Théophile Dobelle on the territory of Wimille, spans the course of the «Wimereux» which gives its name to the hamlet which became an independent town in 1899. 1862: the decree ordering the extension of the railway line from Boulogne to Calais has just been published opening access to the coastline and to the beautiful era of sea baths. On August 17, 1862, the city council of Wimille voted to establish the station. The debate over its final location was lively. Some supporters want to see his installation at the place called d'Aubengue. Wimillois elected officials remain determined.
In addition, we are now talking about a seaside resort. The word is new and for a group of people of the earth, this activity of sea baths remains very abstract.
From then on it became one of the essential elements of the Wimereusian landscape. It is the witness of its history. In what used to be only dunes, he saw the installation of the first «chalets», the laying of the first stone of the church on November 17, 1866, the inauguration of the station «Wimille-Wimereux» on January 1, 1867, with the arrival of the first train of the Paris-Calais line.
The carriages then brought the ever-increasing number of passengers from the station to the “waterfront”. The Viaduct then saw the multiplication of the first hotels and villas (or chalets), necessary for the reception of all this small world, and parallel to the construction at the Fort of the Crèche of the coastal battery of type Séré de Rivères in 1878-1879. Far from the centres of interest of the rural municipality on which it depended, the seaside resort of Wimereux became a full-fledged municipality on 28 May 1899. It will flourish with the Belle Epoque… The church was too small and had to expand in 1905…
The Viaduct still contemplates today this architectural and landscaped heritage that the Association of Friends of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, the Wimille-Wimereux, the Charme de Wimereux and the Feriovipathes du Calaisis want you to discover the lounges of the Baie Saint-Jean in Wimereux with the help of the City, the Municipal Harmony, as well as several trades.
Throughout these two days (18 and 19 September 2021), exhibitions on the history of the creation of the railway station, the viaduct, the seaside resort, the church, etc. models, including the Wimille-Wimereux viaduct and station, a faithful replica of the HO scale… workshops: workshops related to the construction of churches: Stonemason, Stained glass windows, Bells, but also related to the life around the church (atelier ciergerie). And also a concert of the Harmony Municipae (on the theme of the train) (Sunday afternoon), and from the Salons des Jardins de la Baie Saint-Jean, a course of the seaside villas of Wimereux (Saturday afternoon).