Dives-sur-Mer (, literally Dives on Sea; ) is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France.

History

It was from the harbour of Dives-sur-Mer that William the Conqueror set out on the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. On the night before sailing to Pevensey Bay for battle, William and 475 barons and knights from Normandy, Flanders, and Brittany attended Dives-sur-Mer Church for Mass and prayers. After much research in the 18th century, the French government placed a monumental plaque in the church listing by name all 475 companions of the Conqueror on that great mission Book One of "One Family's Journey Through Ten Centuries, by William Lilly contains analysis at Appendix d, p. 1395 of the efforts to determine who those knights were. The medieval wooden market hall and the 13th-14th-century church are the main attractions of the town.

Population

Transport

Dives-sur-Mer is served by two stations on the railway line from Deauville to Dives-sur-Mer: Gare de Dives-Cabourg and the station Dives-sur-Mer-Port-Guillaume. Train services operate year-round at weekends as well as on weekdays during the summer season. Dives is also on line no. 20 of the Calvados bus company Bus Verts du Calvados.