The Bresle (; ) is a river in the northwest of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

that flows into the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

at Le Tréport. It crosses the departements of

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

, Somme and

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inf� ...

. It is long.

Introduction

For a long time, the course of the Bresle (especially the lower part) has had the role of a natural national frontier, serving as the boundary between powerful and often antagonistic political entities. It separated the Roman provinces of Belgian

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

from Lyonnais Gaul, the Talou county (

Dieppe Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

) and the

Vimeu The Vimeu () is a natural region of France, located west of Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The firs ...

during the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

period, the county of Ponthieu, France and the

Duchy of Normandy The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple, King Charles III of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo. The duchy was named for its inhabitants, the Normans. From 1066 until 1204, as a r ...

from the 10th century and also the taxation areas of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

and

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

under the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

. Today, the half- Norman, half-

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

verdant, lake-filled valley carries on its traditional quality glass industry that started in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The presence of numerous small enterprises dotted around the small towns and villages along its banks hasn't compromised the rich environment, which has a wide variety of flora and fauna that thrive. The quality of the water of the Bresle is such that

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and sea-

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

can be found in great number.

Etymology

In his ''Géographie'',

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

called it the ''Phroudis''.The etymology of the Bresle
on www.marikavel.org. Until the 13th century, various other names were given to the river: ''Auvae fluvium'', ''Aucia fluvium'', ''Auga'' in the 10th century and ''Ou'' in the 11th century. When the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

arrived, they called it the ''Brisela''. It has been subsequently noted in various documents as ''Bresla'', ''Brella'', ''Breselle'', ''Briselle'', ''Brisele'', ''Brisella'' before the definitive name was agreed at the end of the 17th century.

Geography

The Bresle starts its life at Abancourt, a commune of the

, at around 200 metres above sea-level and flows northwest over the

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

of Formerie, receiving more water from small tributaries along the way (the Ménillet and the Méline). At Senarpont, it's joined by the Liger, its main tributary. It then takes a turn to the west-northwest, the same direction as most rivers of the

and the Somme.
After having received the waters of the Vimeuse at Gamaches, the river splits into several branches (the Teinturerie and the Busine) at Eu and a part is canalised between Eu and Le Tréport.
Between these two last places, the Bresle flows into a wide grassy valley one kilometre wide, framed by steep edges and dropping by 100 metres into the wooded dry valleys. This valley shows evidence of the former course of the river when it used to meet the sea at Mers-les-Bains up until the Middle Ages. The former estuary forms a part of Eu today, in a district known as the "Prairie".
In the 12th century, the redirecting of the course of the Bresle, rather than digging a canal, brought its outlet to Le Tréport. The valley of the Bresle forms the northern part of the Paris Basin, made up of

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

period. As it is porous, the basin contains natural

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

s, very important in maintaining a water supply for both irrigation of crops and drinking water. File:La Bresle canalisée entre Eu et Le Tréport.jpg, The canalised Bresle File:Bresle.jpg, Satellite view of the Bresle File:Bresle Drainage Basin-fr.svg, Map of the Bresle File:La Bresle au centre d'Eu (vue vers l'aval).jpg, The Bresle at Eu File:La Bresle au centre d'Eu (vue vers l'amont).jpg, The Bresle at Eu

Flora and fauna

The valley has a huge range of plants varying from

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s, sedges,

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that undergo alternation of generations, having both large plants that produce spores and small ...

and

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to long and in height; they have slender stems that are not th ...

to trees such as juniper and

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

(notably ‘’asperulo-fagetum'').
Common animals in the upper valley include the

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

and wild cat, but it’s also home to rarer creatures, four types of bat and four kinds of damselfly, including the '' Coenagrion mercuriale'', not found anywhere else in France.
Many wildfowl winter in the valley, such as the

little grebe The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...

, the great crested grebe and coots.

Angling

The Bresle has plenty of fishing for all kinds of anglers, from sea-

in the lower valley and brown trout upstream, to huge

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

, pike, roach and bream in both the lakes and the river.

Places of interest

Museums devoted to the glass industry are open to the public at Eu (''musée "Traditions verrières"'') and at Blangy-sur-Bresle (at the ''manoir de Fontaine'').Albert Hennetier, ''Aux sources normandes: Promenade au fil des rivières en Seine-Maritime'', p. 82 They show the history of glass and bottle-making, the different stages of the process (from the base materials through to packaging), the tools and modern machines, the collections of perfume bottles and demonstrations of glass-blowing by experts. The signposted ''Chemin des étangs'' (eng:the lakes path) allows walkers and cyclists to roam the lower part of the valley, between Eu and Incheville.
Many aquatic activities (sailing, canoeing etc.) can be enjoyed on the hundreds of lakes formed by the river.

Bibliography

* J.-C. Lecat, ''La région industrielle de la Bresle'', Études normandes, n°222, 3^e trimestre 1969. * Jacques Hétru, ''Le verre: l’art et la matière'', Éd. Bertout, Luneray, 1996 * Philippe Gillet, ''Pochet Le Courval, Les maîtres du verre et du feu : quatre siècles d’excellence'', Perrin, Paris, 1998 * Albert Hennetier, ''Aux sources normandes: Promenade au fil des rivières en

'', Éd. Bertout, Luneray, 2006 * J.-L. Mériaux, J. Duvigneaud, J.-R. Wattez, M. Coste et F. Sueur, ''Étude inter-agences. Connaissance et fonctionnement des milieux aquatiques. Relevés floristiques. Déterminations taxonomiques et physico-chimie sur 12 cours d’eau français. Application aux rivières Aa et Bresle''. Agence Eau Seine-Normandie, AMBE, 1995, 72 p. * J.-L. Mériaux, J. Duvigneaud, J.-R. Wattez, M. Coste et F. Sueur, ''Étude inter-agences. Connaissance et fonctionnement des milieux aquatiques. Relevés floristiques. Déterminations taxonomiques et physico-chimie sur 12 cours d’eau français. Fichier Bresle''. Agence Eau Seine-Normandie, AMBE, 1995, 579 p.

Notes

External links

*
Website of the Institution Interdépartementale Oise, Seine-Maritime et Somme

Website about the history of glassmaking in the valley of the Bresle.
*
Suggests walks in the valley of the Bresle.
{{Authority control Rivers of France Rivers of Oise Rivers of Seine-Maritime Rivers of Somme (department) Rivers of Hauts-de-France Rivers of Normandy 0Bresle