Vigie: this name was generally given to optical posts. It may also have been applied to surveillance posts (former customs posts).
Between the 18th and 19th centuries, there was an optical telegraphy station here, long since destroyed.
In 1792, French engineer Claude Chappe proposed to the Legislative Assembly a system of communication based on the transmission of messages between stations spaced around ten kilometres apart and located on high points.
The messages consisted of a series of semaphore signals which, read using a spyglass from the previous tower, were reproduced for reading by the next tower.
Thanks to this process, messages took just a few minutes to reach the other end of the country.
In 1794, Claude Chappe established the first link between Lille and Paris.
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