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Published: August 11th 2012
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Monday, Day 14
We started this day in Reims and drove north to the port city of Dieppe. It is in the eastern side of the Normandy coast. We wanted to visit here for a special reason.
The Dorsey family has an interesting history. My cousin, Jimmy Dorsey, has a coat of arms that indicates the family came by way of Dieppe. His father and my uncle, Sanford Dorsey, gave it to him years ago. Jimmy visited the area 15 years ago and brought back a post card of the castle ruins.
I have wanted to visit this area since I saw his postcard. In addition to this history, we also have information that the Dorsey family had roots in Galway, Ireland. Jackie and I visited Galway four years ago (2008) on our first European car pick up.
And finally, in 1963 my father, Lamar Dorsey, made a visit to Annapolis, Maryland, to attend a Dorsey reunion celebrating the 300 year anniversity of the issue by Lord Baltimore of a land grant to Col. Edward Dorsey. Jackie and I visited this homesite, still in the Dorsey family, in 1995 when we lived in Fredricksburg, Virginia.
Thus,
Dieppe, France
View from our hotel window. Finally we found a wonderful hotel with a great view. there are three must see Dorsey sites: Castle of Arques in Dieppe France, the D'Arcy tribe of Galway, Ireland and the Dorsey plantation in Annapolis, Maryland. With this visit I completed the 'Dorsey Trifecta.' I hope that I am not the only member of our family to do so.
The following is a quote from Wikipedia:
The
Château d'Arques-la-Bataille is a castle in the
commune of Arques-la-Bataille in the Seine-
Maritime department of France. It is situated near the confluence of the rivers
Eaulne,
Varenne and
Béthune, with the forest of Arques to the north-east.
The center houses a castle dominating the town, which was built in the 11th century by
William of Talou; his nephew,
William the Conqueror, regarding it as a menace to his own power, besieged and occupied it. After frequently changing hands, it came into the possession of the English, who were expelled in 1449 after an occupation of thirty years. In 1589, its cannon decided the
battle of Arques in favor of
Henry IV. Since 1869, the castle has been state property. The first line of fortification was the work of
Francis I; the second line and the donjon date back to the 11th century.
Well, now that is your
Dieppe, France
View of pool in front of the hotel. history lesson of the day. We were blessed with great weather on our day at this historical site. We liked the town of Dieppe and discovered the role of the port during the German occupancy during WWII. It is well worth a revisit some day.
Tomorrow we drive up to Villerville, France in Normandy for a three day stay.
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Kathie Kirts
non-member comment
high school French
it's amazing how useful my 2 years of high school French is when reading Uploadedfile8:)