FECAMP, a seaport and bathing resort of northern France, in the department of Seine-Inf erieure, 28 m. N.N.E. of Havre on the Ouest-Etat railway. Pop. (1931) 16,270. The town stands at the mouth of the small river Fecamp, and occupies the bottom and sides of a narrow valley opening out between high cliffs.
The town grew up round the nunnery founded in 658 to guard the relic of the True Blood which, according to the legend, was found in the trunk of a fig-tree drifted from Palestine to this spot, and which still remains the most precious treasure of the church. The original convent was destroyed by the Northmen, but was re-established by Duke William Longsword as a house of canons regular, later converted into a Benedictine monastery. King Richard I. greatly enlarged this, and rebuilt the church. The dukes of Normandy improved the harbour, but later the town was overshadowed by the rising port of Havre.
The abbey church of La Trinite dates mostly from I175 to 1225, and has a fine central tower and chapel-screens. The hotel de-ville with a municipal museum and library occupy the remains of the abbey buildings (i8th century). The church of St. Etienne (16th century) and the Benedictine liqueur distillery', are of some interest. There are a tribunal and chamber of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators and a nautical school. The harbour is tidal with docks capable of receiving ships drawing 26 ft. at spring tide, 19 ft. at neap-tide. Fishing for herring and mackerel is carried on and Fecamp sends a large fleet to the codbanks of Newfoundland and Iceland. The chief exports are oil-cake, flint, cod and Benedictine liqueur. Imports include coal, timber, tar, hemp and ground-nuts. Steam sawing, metal-founding, fish-salt ing, shipbuilding and repairing, and the manufacture of ship's biscuits and fishing-nets are among the industries.