Fort Nieulay is located in the territory of Calais, to the south-west of the city, near the town of Sangatte.
It was built on a site where a ford then a bridge first made it possible to cross the Hames river, near an English fort protecting the locks from 1525, the whole being able to be activated to flood this coastal region.
In 1558, the Duke of Guise seized the English fort and more than a century later, Vauban decided to rebuild it, still "on horseback" on the river. Connected to the city by a dike, the fort is part of the defense system of the port city.
However, at the end of the 17th century, the site lost its strategic importance and the surrounding locks were no longer operational. Demilitarized, the fort did not find any vocation until 1940 when French and English soldiers resisted the attacks. Germans for a few days. Subsequently, the occupier set up anti-aircraft batteries there and in 1944, Canadians cleared the road to Calais by liberating the fort.
In the meantime, Vauban had a fort built at Sangatte, on the coast, to protect Fort Nieulay. Although reinforced in the 19th century, it hardly played a role until the Second World War when, once concreted, it integrated the Atlantic wall… The sites of the fort of Nieulay as well as that of Sangatte can mark out a promenade before return to the road and the beaches on the coast, south-west of Calais. Inquire on +33 3 21 96 62 40.
