Built in 1859, the Walde lighthouse is to this day the only lighthouse with a metal structure on piles still in place in France. Installed on the beach of Marck, a few kilometers from Calais, it threatens to collapse. Several associations have been fighting for years to save the one that marks the separation of the waters of the English Channel and the North Sea.

He always has his feet in the water, even at low tide. To approach it, you have to be patient, wait for high tide coefficients and walk several kilometers in the sand.

Installed on the endless Hemmes beach, between Calais and Gravelines, the Walde lighthouse has dominated the horizon with its fragile silhouette since 1859. A strange iron construction, which signaled the coast up to 10 miles offshore (18 km) for the many boats crossing the Strait of Pas-de-Calais.

Unique in France and one of the last in Europe

Edith Lhomel, President of the EPAC Association

Now definitively extinct, it has been abandoned, eaten away by corrosion, salt, winds and storms. ” It is the only metal lighthouse on stilts in France, an atypical construction which symbolizes the history of our coast and despite its state, it is a real maritime heritage, one of the last in Europesays Edith Lhomel, president of the Environment and Heritage association of Calais EPAC.

The Walde lighthouse is 18 meters high, installed in the sand thanks to a large central pile and 6 piles around it, all reinforced at a depth of 5 meters and reinforced by tie rods and counter height gauges. “This metallic lattice structure was intended to limit the resistance of the lighthouse to the waves because it offered little grip to the onslaught of the sea. Unlike the stone lighthouses, which are more massive, the water and the waves pass through the piles.X and don’t come crashing down explains Frédéric Lesur, member of the EPAC association and occasional guide for commented walks. “ And IIt offers a good base in the moving grounds like here the sand.»

A light structure supporting a hexagonal platform 7 meters wide which accommodated the housing of the keepers of the Walde lighthouse. 2 guards, permanently installed, night and day in a house made of sheet metal on the outside and dressed in oak wood on the inside. Murphy beds, cupboards, a stove and a supply of drinking water. Around a circular oak balcony and at the top, the lantern, 11 meters above sea level at high tide.

Always standing against winds and tides, it continues to be useful for the navigation of boats in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais

Frédéric Lesur, member of the EPAC Association, occasional guide

” Today, even if it is heavily corroded, it remains upright and continues to signal a danger, even when turned off. » specifies Frédéric Lesur. ” It is a remarkable object in the landscape, placed on a sandbank, useful for browsingthere is obviously a day mark. It has stopped many shipwrecks, as evidenced by the wrecks scattered around it which date from before its construction.

The lighthouse of Walde is the last witness of these revolutionary “lights” of the 19th Century. A technological feat developed by an Irish engineer, Alexandre Mitchell. The first of these lighthouses was installed in the Thames estuary in 1838. “Its rapid construction gave it a lower cost than a traditional structure” notes Frédéric Lesur. “Today, the Walde lighthouse is 160 years old. It is still standing but for how long, some tie rods and counter-measurements have disappeared and it is leaning a little. »

Its condition has long worried heritage preservation associations. Its destruction had even been affected in 1998.” The Maritime Heritage Federation, the FRCPM had requested at the time, its registration as a Historic Monument to protect him explains Edith Lhomel. ” We took up this request, in partnership with the FRCPM, 2 years ago and we submitted a file to the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs DRAC. The objective is to stop the ravages of corrosion, treat it and allow an educational journey on its history, its function.”

A classification under the inventory of Historic Monuments can help us save it

Corinne Noël, mayor of Marck (62)

A request supported by Corinne Noël, Mayor of Marck : “ The Walde lighthouse is part of the landscape of the inhabitants of the municipality. It has been located on the Hemmes beach for a century and a half, generations of Marckois have rubbed shoulders with it. It is a heritage to be preserved. » Its registration as a historical monumentit is the promise of rescue and development, but at what cost?

“Financially, it’s true, we won’t be able to afford its restoration. The state has to take care of it. To ensure its maintenance, we will work with the Coastal Conservatory because the Walde lighthouse is installed on a protected site: fine sandbanks as far as the eye can see, dunes, wild nature and a large colony of seals which live there all year round and reproduce » says Corinne Noël.

Since the start of the year, a curator from the DRAC has visited the site several times, as well as the Port Authority of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where the old lantern of the Walde lighthouse is located. A marine antique made of copper and glass, deposited in 1986 after dismantling.

“Initially, the lighthouse ran on oil, supplied by the keepers, then on propane gas. After an explosion, we will automate the lantern in 1897 and no more guards are assigned to the lighthouse. says Frédéric Lesur. “Today, only a small lantern powered by two solar panels gives modest light in the night.”

Asked for more than 20 years, the classification of the lighthouse of Walde could succeed today. Associations and municipalities are confident in this file which will make it possible not to eliminate the one that marks the border between the Channel and the North Sea.