Bray Dunes

Bray-Dunes ; Bray-Duunn
region	Hauts-de-France
Department	North
Arrondissement	Dunkerque
Canton	Dunkerque-2
Community association	Community urbaine de Dunkerque
Coordinates	51 ° 4 ′ N , 2 ° 32 ′ E Coordinates: 51 ° 4 ′ N , 2 ° 32 ′ E
height	0-29 m
surface	8.57 km 2
Residents	4,483 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	523 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	59123
INSEE code	59107
Website	www.bray-dunes.fr

Bray-Dunes ( Dutch Brayduinen , Flemish Bray-Duunn ) is a French municipality with 4483 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in Nord in the region of Hauts-de-France . It belongs to the arrondissement of Dunkerque and since the cantonal reform of 2015 to the canton Dunkerque-2 (previously canton Dunkerque-Est ).

Flag of Bray-Dunes

geography

The small town is the northernmost municipality in France. It borders the North Sea in the northwest and Belgium in the northeast . The Route de Furnes , literally the road to Furnes in Belgium, which has the status of a departmental road, runs south of the widely ramified street settlement with attached outskirts . It connects Bray-Dunes with Zuydcoote and the Belgian Adinkerke (municipality of De Panne ). After Dunkirk to the west you drive 15 km.

In the north, the parish is hilly and partly rocky or wooded. Nevertheless, there are residential areas not far from the national border, such as the Charrière district .

To the west of the development is the dune area Dune Marchand , which extends to Zuydcoote. To the east of the development between the beach in the north and the railway line in the south, which was built roughly along the border with the marshland, the Dune du Perroquet dune belt extends to the Belgian border , 178.99 hectares of which are protected. There are more than 350 species of plants and 70 species of birds nest there.

history

The village was founded in 1883 by Alphonse Bray, a shipowner from Dunkirk . At that time it was still a hamlet and therefore called Hameau de Ghyvelde . After the German attack in 1940 , parts of the British expeditionary corps were evacuated from Bray-Dunes to England in 1940 ( Operation Dynamo ).