[8] Wissant was the embarkation port of Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester, for his ill-fated invasion of England in 1173, with an army of 3000 Flemings.

Shifting coastal sands silted up the harbour, at the same time that Calais was rising in importance as a port towards the end of the 12th century.

During the 20th century, an entrepreneur, M. Létendart from Calais, extracted sand and gravel from the dunes to the west of Wissant, in the bed of the ancient lagoon.

Three contenders for the £1,000 Northcliffe prize offered by the Daily Mail for the first heavier-than-air craft to cross the English Channel were camped along the coast between Calais and Wissant.

[12] Today, because of the frequent and usually favourable winds and the proximity of the TGV railway station and the Eurostar trains to Fréthun, Parisians call Wissant the "Mecca” of surfing.