Sangatte

Sangatte is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department on the northern coast of France on the English Channel. It is the location for the Channel Tunnel's French cooling station and the French end-point for the HVDC Cross-Channel, the connection between the UK and French electricity grids. Sangatte was the landing point of the world's first operational underwater telegraph cable in 1851 and was also the site of Louis Blériot's historic cross-Channel flight in 1909. A Supermarine Spitfire Mark 1a was forced to land at the beach in 1940 and was recovered in 1986, restored to airworthy condition by 2014. A refugee camp was set up in Sangatte in 1999, but was closed in 2002 following riots and pressure from the UK government.learn more on wikipedia