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Granville, Manche

January 01, 1970

Granville (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑ̃.vil] ⓘ; Norman: Graunville) is a commune in the Manche department and region of Normandy, northwestern France.[3] The chef-lieu of the canton of Granville and seat of the Communauté de communes de Granville, Terre et Mer [fr], it is a seaside resort and health resort of Mont Saint-Michel Bay, at the end of the Côte des Havres [fr], a former cod-fishing port and the first shellfish port of France. It is sometimes nicknamed "Monaco of the North" by virtue of its location on a rocky promontory.

Granville
Commune
The harbour of Granville, with Notre-Dame church in the background
Coat of arms
Location of Granville
Granville
Granville
Coordinates: 48°50′15″N 1°35′38″W / 48.837401°N 1.593931°W / 48.837401; -1.593931
CountryFrance
RegionNormandy
DepartmentManche
ArrondissementAvranches
CantonGranville
IntercommunalityGranville, Terre et Mer
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Gilles Ménard[1]
Area
1
9.9 km2 (3.8 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
12,581
 • Density1,300/km2 (3,300/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
50218 /50400
Elevation0–67 m (0–220 ft)
(avg. 37 m or 121 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

The town was founded by a vassal of William the Conqueror on land occupied by the Vikings in the 11th century. The old privateer city and fortification for the defence of Mont Saint-Michel became a seaside resort in the 19th century which was frequented by many artists and equipped with a golf course and a horse racing course.

Home of the Dior family [fr] of industrialists, an important commune that absorbed the village of Saint-Nicolas-près-Granville in 1962, port and airport of South Manche, it has also been a Douzelage city since 1991, twinned with 20 European cities. Administratively, the islands of Chausey, the French Channel Islands, which include a small harbour, are part of the commune of Granville.

Geography edit

Location edit

Granville is located at the edge of the English Channel at the extremity of the natural region [fr] of the Cotentin. It defines the north of the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel and the south of the Côte des Havres [fr]. The upper town is located on a peninsula surrounded by schist cliffs, known as Pointe du Roc or Cap Lihou. The rest of the town extends eastward inland, bounded on the north by the Boscq [fr], a short coastal river, and on the south by alternating cliffs and beaches up to the Saigue stream.

The commune has four sand beaches, one to the north between the peninsula and the river, three to the south on the bay. It occupies 990 acres (400 ha);[4] of mostly urbanised territory, but this urbanisation is now limited by the Natura 2000 European directive and the law of preservation of the coastline [fr]. The town is part of the association [fr] of Les Plus Beaux Détours de France [fr]. The National Institute of Geographic Information and Forestry gives the co-ordinates as 48°50′17″N 1°35′13″W / 48.83806°N 1.58694°W / 48.83806; -1.58694.[4] It is at the centre of the Urban Area of Granville [fr].

Closing in the north of the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel and its foreshore of a very gentle gradient, it enjoys the highest tides in Europe, up to 14 m (46 ft) of tidal range. This situation also sometimes leads to significant changes of the coastal features of the nearby beaches.[5]

Off the coast, the archipelago of the Chausey Islands is administered by the commune of Granville. It is one of the only island quarters of France. It consists of 52 islands of granite at high tide and more than 365 at low tide covering almost 5,000 ha (12,000 acres).

Granville is located 17 km (11 mi) southwest of its insular district of Chausey, 288 km (179 mi) to the west of Notre-Dame in Paris, point zero of the roads of France [fr], 40 km (25 mi) southwest of Saint-Lô, 24 km (15 mi) northwest of Avranches, 27 km (17 mi) southwest of Coutances, 90 km (56 mi) to the south of Cherbourg-Octeville, 23 km (14 mi) north of Mont Saint-Michel, 26 km (16 mi) northeast of Cancale and 99 km (62 mi) to the southwest of Caen.

It is also located 5,356 km (3,328 mi) from Granville in the State of New York, 6,053 km (3,761 mi) from Granville, West Virginia and 6,196 km (3,850 mi) from Granville, Ohio, among others.

Hydrography edit

Granville has natural limits materialised by the Boscq [fr] river to the north and the Saigue stream in the south. For a few years, an artificial river pierced between the mainland and the peninsula. It was filled and is now replaced by Place du Maréchal-Foch.

Relief edit

The commune is largely at sea level. It rises only towards the interior, a little more on the peninsula from the Pointe du Roc to reach 67 m (220 ft).[4]

Neighbouring communes edit

Granville, located on the Pointe du Roc is washed to the north, south and to the west by the English Channel. To the northeast lies the commune of Donville-les-Bains, the village of Yquelon is to the east and to the southeast are the small seaside resort of Saint-Pair-sur-Mer and the village of Saint-Planchers. The island quarter of Chausey is located off to the northwest, and Mont Saint-Michel is to the south.

Climate edit

Granville is located on the English Channel coast, it is therefore subject to an oceanic climate. However its positioning on the Bay of the Mont Saint-Michel, at the bottom of the gulf formed by Normandy and Brittany, allows it to be relatively protected from storms and wind (even though it may be exposed to the Suroît [fr]) and enjoy mild temperatures. Annual average temperature stood at 11.4 °C (52.5 °F) with a maximum of 14.2 °C (57.6 °F) and a minimum of 8.6 °C (47.5 °F). The maximum nominal temperatures of 21 °C (70 °F) in July–August and 3 °C (37 °F) in January–February show the mildness of the climate and the lack of thermal amplitude. The insolation values given here are those of the station of Caen, due to the lack of local data. Contrary to a common misconception, 606 mm (23.9 in) of total precipitation shows that Normandy is not a wetter region than others. The record of rainfall per 24-hour period was established during a storm on 11 July 1977 with 57.2 mm (2.25 in) of water.

In the 1987 storm, wind speeds reached a high of 220 km/h (140 mph; 120 kn), which is the current absolute record for the city.

Climate data for Granville (1961–1990)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 8.8
(47.8) 		9.3
(48.7) 		11.9
(53.4) 		13.7
(56.7) 		17.0
(62.6) 		19.8
(67.6) 		21.9
(71.4) 		22.0
(71.6) 		20.0
(68.0) 		16.3
(61.3) 		12.0
(53.6) 		9.2
(48.6) 		15.2
(59.4)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 3.4
(38.1) 		3.1
(37.6) 		4.8
(40.6) 		5.9
(42.6) 		9.0
(48.2) 		11.5
(52.7) 		13.5
(56.3) 		13.6
(56.5) 		11.7
(53.1) 		9.4
(48.9) 		6.1
(43.0) 		3.7
(38.7) 		8.0
(46.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 57.0
(2.24) 		53.2
(2.09) 		49.9
(1.96) 		39.7
(1.56) 		50.5
(1.99) 		40.8
(1.61) 		36.8
(1.45) 		36.3
(1.43) 		50.8
(2.00) 		59.0
(2.32) 		68.5
(2.70) 		64.3
(2.53) 		606.8
(23.89)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 12.7 10.7 11.0 9.2 9.7 7.4 6.1 6.4 8.7 10.5 13.3 12.8 118.5
Average snowy days 1.3 2.1 0.6 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.8 5.3
Average relative humidity (%) 87 84 82 80 79 80 79 78 79 82 84 86 81.7
Mean monthly sunshine hours 69.5 84.3 127.5 164.1 188.4 206.4 206.4 198.6 167.1 112.6 77.8 64.0 1,666.6
Source 1: Meteofrance.com (Temperatures, sunshine hours)
Source 2: Infoclimat.fr

Transport edit

 
Granville railway station

Several highways serve the commune including the downgraded roads RN 171 [fr] (now the RD 971 from Carentan), RN 24BIS [fr] (now the RD 924 towards Villedieu-les-Poêles) and RN 173 [fr] (now the RD 973 from Avranches). Granville is located 25 km (16 mi) from the A84 (E401). It is also crossed from north to south by the old RN 811 [fr], today the RD 911, the road to the coast at Avranches.

 
The Granville-Paris Express which overran the buffer stop at its Gare Montparnasse terminus on 22 October 1895

The Paris–Granville line [fr] departing from Paris-Montparnasse railway station has its terminus at Granville station; it is used by TER Normandie long and medium distance services.

Several bus routes connect Granville with a network set up by the General Council of Manche, Manéo [fr] with routes 2, 3, 7, 116, 122, 202, 300, 302 and 305, and the Néva network since December 2014, created and operated in-house by the town of Granville.

The Granville-Mont-Saint-Michel Airport [fr] allows landings of private aircraft and the Caen – Carpiquet Airport ensures the interregional links.

By sea, the port of Granville serves the Chausey Islands and the Channel Islands (44,100 passengers) and hosts freight activities (197,000 tonnes).

An urban transport network is planned for 2014 and should cross the whole community of communes [fr].[6]

Quarters and localities edit

The commune is divided into several quarters: the Haute Ville, the historic heart behind the ramparts; Couraye; La Tranchée, which occupies the former site of an arm of the sea dug by man; Le Calvaire; Le Centre, the current town centre; and Saint-Nicolas, which corresponds to the former commune of Saint-Nicolas-près-Granville, joined in 1962. The quarter of the Agora has been classified priority in the title under the policy of the commune.[7]

Toponymy edit

 
Map of Roman Gaul, established in the 18th century; Grannonũ (read Grannonum) appears above the territory of the Abrincatui.

The name of the city is mentioned in the forms of Grandivilla in 1054,[8] Grande Villa in 1056,[8] Grandvilla in 1172[8] and Granville in 1175.[8]

All modern toponymists agree on the origin of the Gran- element: Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing have classed Granville with the toponyms of the Grandvelle/Grandville type, whose first term is explained just by the Old French grant ("grand").[9] François de Beaurepaire followed suit,[10] as well as Ernest Nègre[11] and René Lepelley [fr].[12]

According to Édouard Le Héricher ("Avranchin monumental and historic") the origin of the toponym is explained by a character named Grant who received the fief of Rollo of Normandy during the conquest of Neustria.[citation needed]

If experts agree all that it is a medieval formation of -ville, the exact meaning to give this suffix varies between "village, hamlet" (Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, François de Beaurepaire, Ernest Nègre) and "domain" (René Lepelley) which should probably be in the sense of "rural area", initially it had the value of the Gallo-Roman VILLA.

Some historians and geographers of the past have attempted to connect Granville to the Grannonum/Grannona, toponym attested in the Notitia Dignitatum on the Saxon Shore from the late Roman Empire: tribunus cohortis primae Armoricanae, Grannona novae in litore Saxonico. This explains why some 18th-century maps describing the former Roman Gaul revealed the name of Grannonum at the location of Granville (see map opposite). This hypothesis is now abandoned by contemporary practitioners.

During the Revolution, the town temporarily took the name of Granville-la-Victoire (after the siege of the Vendéens she had victoriously endured in 1793), the name was then formalised without this complementary addition.[13]

According to the standard Norman spelling developed in the second half of the 20th century, the name of the town is written as Graunville (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑɔ̃vil]).

Cap Lihou is named from the Old Norse word holm meaning "island, islet" and which has in some cases evolved as -hou, as the endpoint.

History edit

Origins edit

 
Granville on the Cassini map
 
Granville in 1846

According to a legend concerning the Mont Saint-Michel Bay, Granville and the insular quarter of Chausey were covered in the Forest of Scissy [fr], sunken in 709.[14] Granville, in the heart of the land, would then become like Dinard and Saint-Malo a coastal town known as Roque de Lihou.

In 1066, William the Conqueror in his conquest of England, sought the help of the Grant family. As a token of recognition, he awarded the lands of Roque de Lihou. The Grants are therefore the first Lords of the town after the Vikings.[15] In 1143, the parish of Notre-Dame was created. It is probable that monks from Mont-Saint-Michel went to the Priory on Lihou during the first half of the 12th century. In 1252, in the absence of a male descendant, Jeanne de Granville married Raoul d'Argouges, Lord of Gratot. In 1424, the criminal case of Pierre Le Maçon took place in Granville, which was then judged by the chancery of Henry VI of England in February 1425, in Paris.[16] In 1439, the construction of the Notre-Dame du Cap Lihou Church [fr] began.

On 26 October 1439, Sir Thomas de Scales, Seneschal of Normandy, and English officer of the Hundred Years' War, bought the Roque of Jean d'Argouges. On order of King Henry VI of England, in order to isolate Mont Saint-Michel, the last French bridgehead into Norman territory, he had the walls of Granville built. In 1440, the construction of the fortress began. To further protect this city, Lord Thomas de Scales had a ditch dug between the peninsula and the mainland, so that the sea and the waters of the Boscq made the peninsula an island.

However, on 8 November 1442, by ruse, Louis d'Estouteville [fr] took over the castle since which has remained permanently in the hands of the French. Charles VII decided to make Granville a fortified town and signed a charter in 1445 granting arms and exempting the residents of tax. From 1450, ships were fishing at Newfoundland. In 1470, Louis XI visited the town to ensure its loyalty in the conflict opposing the Bretons and Burgundians. In 1492, the Jews of Spain, expelled by the Alhambra Decree, arrived in France. A community settled in Granville, their right to trade and to lend money allowed the town to arm a large fleet.

Early modern era edit

 
The burning of Granville by the Vendéens, painting by Jean-François Hue.
 
The port of Granville at the start of the 19th century

In 1562, the restoration of the ramparts began and a garrison moved into the barracks. Then in 1593 the keys to the city were presented to Henry IV, marking the importance of the town to the Kingdom. Under Louis XIII, the fortifications were adapted for artillery. From the reign of Louis XIV, Granville ships also had the right to capture. Therefore, between seventy and eighty ships were armed and Granville gave fifteen admirals to France, of which the best known is Georges René Le Peley de Pléville. In 1688, Louvois razed part of the defences of the town. Louis XIV appointed the first mayor of Granville in 1692: Luc Leboucher de Gastagny. However, in 1695, during the Nine Years' War, the English bombarded the city, destroying 27 houses. Vauban then studied possible improvements to the stronghold without having the time to carry them out.

Following the attack, the ramparts were raised and increased in 1720. Then, from 1749, development work and expansion of the port was undertaken, with, in 1750, the laying of the breakwater, ever-present today. This work was completed in 1757, in the meantime, a new barracks was built. In 1763, a fire swept through the faubourgs. In 1777, a new barracks was added, the Gênes barracks still present today. On 20 July 1786, a new fire broke out, this time in the Tranchée quarter at the gates of the citadel.

On 14 November 1793, or 24 brumaire year II, was the Siege of Granville by the Vendéens during the Virée de Galerne. A force of some 25,000 Vendéen troops (followed by thousands of civilians of all ages), commanded by Henri de la Rochejaquelein, headed for the port of Granville where they expected to be greeted by a British fleet and an army of exiled French nobles. Arriving at Granville, they found the walled city surrounded by Republican forces, with no British ships in sight. Their attempts to take the city were unsuccessful. During the retreat the extended columns fell prey to Republican forces. Repulsed by the population, having lost two thousand men, they had to abandon the assault but left by burning the Rue des Juifs. On 14 September 1803, the English again bombarded the town after imposing a blockade of the coast.

 
La Plage [The Beach] by Eugène Isabey, 1863
 
The beach of the Plat Gousset at the start of the 20th century
 
The railways of Manche circulated trains on the Granville–Sourdeval line and the Condé-sur-Vire–Granville line from 1908–1909 to 1936.

From 1815, after years of military conflict, in full Restoration, Granville seemed to take a new direction. The chamber of commerce and industry was created; in 1816, the shores of the Boscq baptised Cours Jonville; in 1823, the breakwater was joined to the land, and in 1827, the first stone of the Roc Lighthouse was laid.

Granville once formed part of the diocese of Coutances, the Parliament of Rouen and the intendance of Caen. Before the French Revolution, the town had two parishes: The Church of Notre-Dame du Cap Lihou and Saint-Nicolas. This parish was an appendix of Notre-Dame until Saint-Nicolas was set up in 1829 whose territory is regarded as a commune independent of Granville.

The port obtained its current appearance after 1856 and the inauguration of the wet dock and the lock. In 1860, the first wooden casino, built by former Mayor Méquin, was inaugurated. In 1865, it was followed by the hospice of St. Peter. In 1866, Victor Chesnais composed a hymn for his town, "La Granvillaise", adapted in 1868 at the theatre.

In 1867, the town acquired its first oared lifeboat, the Saint-Thomas-et-Saint-Joseph-de-Saint-Faron. In 1869, the newspaper Le Granvillais was created, and in 1870, the Paris–Granville line [fr] and railway station were opened on 3 July. The town really became a seaside resort welcoming Parisians and guests such as Stendhal, Jules Michelet and Victor Hugo, and the parents of Maurice Denis who was born "accidentally" in Granville.

From 1875, major construction resumed, with the construction of a reservoir of 1,200 m3 (42,000 cu ft), Polotsk and Solferino barracks, and of the auction market hall. The town continued to equip itself with the opening in 1884 of the municipal library, in 1886 the school group of St. Paul, in 1887 the dry dock and in 1897 a corps of firefighters. To entertain holidaymakers, the Granvillaises Regatta Society was founded in 1889, the horse racing course and the Société des Courses of Granville in 1890, and the golf course in 1912. The Montparnasse derailment was on 22 October 1895, when the Granville–Paris express train overran the buffers at Paris Montparnasse station. Finally, in 1898, the St. Paul Church was inaugurated.

The 20th century began with the burning of the Château de la Crête in 1900. In 1905, fashion designer Christian Dior was born in Granville; his childhood home is now a museum.[17] In 1908, the town was endowed with a visitor centre. It also became a centre of communication with the opening in 1908 of the railway line and tramway of Granville to Sourdeval, passing through Avranches, and one towards Condé-sur-Vire in 1910. In 1911, the new casino was opened, with the maternity hospital and the savings bank by minister Jules Pams. In 1912, electricity was installed in the commune and the Normandy-Hôtel was inaugurated. 1914 was a dark year for Granville with the loss of four sailors in the lifeboat accident of the Admiral-Amédée-Roze and departure for the war of the soldiers of the 2nd [fr] and 202nd infantry regiment [fr].

After the war, the regatta resumed in 1919, the carnival in 1920 and a son of the area, Lucien Dior [fr], became Minister of Commerce in the seventh government of Aristide Briand and came to visit the town in 1921. In 1925, a new railway station was inaugurated, Granville became a health resort and the Hôtel des Bains opened in 1926. In 1931, the last fishing vessel returned from Newfoundland.

World War II edit

 
The page of the newspaper Le Granvillais of 21 September 1940, on which appears the article signed "Camille", denouncing the racist laws of the Vichy government.

A garrison and coastal town closing the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, Granville has always been coveted during armed conflicts in the area. During the Second World War, on 17 June 1940, the Germans entered Granville. On 21 September 1941, an article appeared in Le Granvillais signed by the name of "Camille", where the author was alerting readers to the dangers and lack of basis for the next laws on the status of Jews of the Vichy regime. Despite this mark of resistance, eight Granville Jews were deported to Auschwitz: Léon Bobulesco and his two sons Armand and Rodolphe, Simon Goldenberg, his wife Minka and their children Henri and Ruben, as well as Smil Weesler. Three Communists suffered the same fate: Léon Lamort, René Loncle and Charles Passot.

The whole of the population underwent the constraints of the Occupation. From the beginning, the Germans built fortifications on the Pointe du Roc and forbade access to the port. On 20 May 1942, a new municipal council was installed by the prefect. On 1 April 1943, all of the Haute-Ville had to be evacuated, barriers and anti-tank roadblocks prevented access. The Normandy Hotel was transformed into a kommandantur and a branch of the Gestapo.

A signature name of this period was Maurice Marland. Born on 12 February 1888 in Falaise, and a teacher of English, French and civics, he led a resistance network. Notable in the town, in 1939, he organised the reception of Belgian refugees and the evacuation of British soldiers. Later, with Jules Leprince, they put escape routes to Jersey in place. Throughout the occupation, his relations enabled him to mount a clandestine intelligence network on port and rail facilities and enemy operations in the Channel Islands. Arrested and then released in 1941 and 1943, he nonetheless continued until 22 July 1944, when he was arrested and shot in the forest of Lucerne at the request of collaborators. On 23 July 1994, his son Serge Marland filed a complaint for crimes against humanity, the investigation concluded that he was assassinated by German soldiers. Today, the secondary school of the commune bears his name.[18]

On 6 June 1944, the "Green Plan" of sabotage of railway lines was implemented to cut the Paris–Granville line [fr]. Liberated without fighting on 31 July 1944, it saw the troops of General Patton pass for two days, who went down to the town centre by the Coutances road and up the Rue Couraye to get out by the Avranches road. The vibration caused by the passage of armoured cars for two days brought down the façade nameplates of several houses.

Granville was reoccupied for a few hours, during the Granville Raid of 9 March 1945, by German soldiers who had landed from Jersey. On 9 March 1945, while France was liberated and Allied troops, 800 km (500 mi) away, had begun to cross the Rhine, German troops based in still-occupied Jersey launched a daring commando raid against Granville. Although spotted by the radar of Coutainville, the Germans aboard light boats managed to land at night in the port of Granville. They dynamited port facilities and sank four freighters. Fifteen U.S., eight British and six French soldiers were killed, seventy German prisoners were released and five Americans and four British were captured before the German commando unit took flight.[19]

Contemporary history edit

During the Algerian War, the barracks housed the 3rd Demi-brigade, and then the 21st Battalion of chasseurs on foot, from 1956 to 1961. It was a training centre for thousands of contingent recruits before leaving for Kabylie or the region of Tiaret. The commune hosted the finish of stage 1 and the start of stage 2 of the 1957 Tour de France.

In 1962, the town of Granville absorbed the commune of Saint-Nicolas-près-Granville; the latter, during the revolutionary period of the National Convention (1792–1795), bore the name Champ-Libre [Free Field].[20] On 4 June 1965, Granville welcomed Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.[21]

In 1970, the Regional Nautical Centre moved to Granville and in 1975, the port was completed with a marina. In 1972, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Granville, founded in 1815, took the name CCI Granville-Saint-Lô, and which then became the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Central and South Manche [fr] in 2000. In 1973, Heudebert [fr] opened a factory for the production of biscottes, in business ever since.

In the 1980s, donations by Richard Anacréon allowed the opening of the Museum of modern art, many buildings in the town were classified or registered as historical monuments. In 1982, the town was endowed of a new hospital. In 1984, the military regiments left the barracks, allowing redevelopment of the Pointe du Roc.

In 1991, the Christian Dior Museum [fr] opened and the Charter of the Douzelage was signed.

At the turn of the millennium, the business incubator emerged. In 2003, the A84 autoroute joined Granville with other agglomerations.

Demography edit

Demographic evolution edit

The inhabitants of the commune are called Granvillais in French.[22]

Of 6,649 people at the beginning of the census of the people in 1793, the commune reached a demographic peak in 1861 with 17,180 inhabitants, prior to be severely affected by the War of 1870 by losing nearly 1,000 of its children. Then began a slow decline accentuated by the World War I, no longer accommodating more than 10,132 inhabitants in 1946. The second half of the 20th century – with the absorption of Saint-Nicolas-près-Granville in 1962, the rural exodus and the construction of many estates on the outskirts – allowed the commune to gain residents again to achieve 13,022 inhabitants in 2006. That same year, only 0.5% of the Granville population was foreign, with the presence small Portuguese, Spanish and Moroccan communities each representing 0.1% of the population,[23] far from the regional average of 8.8%, and 16.9% of households consisted of single-parent families, ten points under this same regional average.[24]

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
17936,649—    
18005,454−2.79%
18067,834+6.22%
18217,030−0.72%
18317,350+0.45%
18367,581+0.62%
18418,347+1.94%
184612,191+7.87%
185111,035−1.97%
185613,568+4.22%
186117,180+4.83%
186615,622−1.88%
YearPop.±% p.a.
187214,747−0.96%
187612,527−4.00%
188111,040−2.50%
188611,620+1.03%
189112,721+1.83%
189612,005−1.15%
190111,667−0.57%
190611,940+0.46%
191111,347−1.01%
19219,489−1.77%
192610,497+2.04%
193110,229−0.52%
YearPop.±% p.a.
193610,329+0.19%
194610,132−0.19%
195410,368+0.29%
19629,827−0.67%
196812,715+4.39%
197513,330+0.68%
198213,546+0.23%
199012,413−1.09%
199912,687+0.24%
200713,100+0.40%
201213,021−0.12%
201712,580−0.69%
From 1962 to 1999: Population without double counting; for the years following: municipal population.
Source: Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1999[13] and INSEE (1968–2017)[25]

Age structure edit

As reflected in the age structure, Granville is an exemplary commune in terms of the age distribution of its inhabitants, each category representing around 15 to 20% of the population. Only the centenarians are poorly represented, as on the whole of the territory. However, a lower rate of children under 15 years in 2006 reflected an ageing of Granville families and a possible future demographic deficit. That same year, only 25.9% of the population was less than 25 years old.[24]

Population by age of Granville, 2012 (%)
90+
2.05
75–89
14.9
60–74
21.3
45–59
18.45
30–44
14.35
15–29
16.25
0–14
12.7

Total: 100

male
female
Source: INSEE[26]
Population by age of Manche, 2012 (%)
90+
1.05
75–89
10.6
60–74
16.55
45–59
21.1
30–44
17.7
15–29
15.45
0–14
17.55

Total: 100

male
female
Source: INSEE [27]

Politics and administration edit

Local politics edit

Granville is the chef-lieu of the canton represented by the centre-right departmental councillor [fr] Jean-Marc Julienne. The commune is linked to Manche's 2nd constituency represented by deputy Guénhaël Huet (UMP).

Thirty-three elected officials sit on the municipal council, divided into twenty-four members of the municipal majority from a list of independents, a group of five councillors of a UDI list, three elected leftists including former PRG mayor Daniel Caruhel and an elected frontist.[28][29] The board is chaired by a woman, Dominique Baudry, assisted by nine adjoints.[29]

Granville is attached to courts of first instance and the superior court of Avranches, the courts and tribunals of commerce and Council of Tribunals of Coutances, the Court of Appeal of Caen [fr].

In 2008, the town had a budget of €30.041 million, of which €22.08 million for operations and €7,961,000 investment,[30] 38.39% funded by local taxes [fr], municipal debt was €15,318,000 the same year.[31] The tax rate in 2008 amounted to 13.12% for the housing tax, 22.06% and 47.53% for property tax (built and unbuilt), and 14.30% for business tax set by the community of communes [fr].[32] Two young workers' homes [fr] have settled in the town, an HLM management company manages 1563 homes in the town, a social action community centre [fr] provides aid to people in need.

The town adheres to the Community of communes of Granville, land and sea [fr] for land use, economic development and housing, upgrading of the environment, and the organisation of relief. It also directs the SMBCG (Joint Association of Granville coastal areas) for the protection of coastal waters against microbiological risk.[33]

List of mayors edit

Sixty-eight mayors have headed the municipal administration of Granville, since the election of the first mayor in 1692.

List of mayors of Granville, 1945–present[34]
Start End Name Party Other details
1945 1947 Jules Desmonts PRRRS Honorary director of the Ferdinand Buisson College
1947 1959 Roger Maris RPF then moderate Retired colonial administrator
1959 1961 Marius Beaumois PRRRS Retired receiver-collector
1961 1977 Henri Baudouin UNR then FNRI Commercial court registered lawyer
1977 1983 Rémy Derubay PS Mathematics lecturer
1983 1989 Henri Baudouin UDF Commercial court registered lawyer
1989 1990 Jean-Claude Lecossais RPR Surgeon
1990 1994 Bernard Beck [fr] UDF Honorary magistrate, first President of the Court of Auditors from 1978 to 1982
1994 2008 Marc Verdier RPR, UMP Retired banker
2008 2014 Daniel Caruhel PRG Landscape gardener
April 2014[29] Present Dominique Baudry Independent Business manager

Political trends and results edit

Main article: 2014 municipal elections in Manche

In the context of the elections, the population of Granville shows a relatively conservative tendency and votes as regularly as the entire national population, thus following the "vague rose" [pink wave] in the regional elections of 2004, but instead voting by a large majority for the European Constitutional Treaty. An opposition group published a journal, Le Sans-culotte de Granville and Coutances. District committees are located in the commune to enliven the local debate. In 2008, the list led by the outgoing general counsel of the Miscellaneous left, Daniel Caruhel, ex-socialist but supported by outgoing UMP mayor, Marc Verdier, and housing nine members of the Miscellaneous right outgoing majority, won the municipal election against the official candidate of the Socialist Party. The canton returned to Jean-Marc Julienne, assistant Marc Verdier and running mate Daniel Caruhel, belonging to the New Centre but elected as independent. Thus, contrary to what the labels might suggest, Granville voters had once again made the choice of conservatism.

Presidential elections, results of the second round

Parliamentary elections, results of the second round

European elections, results from the two best scores

Regional elections, results from the two best scores

Cantonal elections, results of the second round

Municipal elections, results of the second round

Referendum elections

Education edit

The commune was attached to the Academy of Caen [fr]. Four public kindergartens and primary schools [fr] welcome pupils of the commune: The Group of Docteur-Lanos, the Jean Macé Group, the Jules Ferry Group, and the Pierre and Marie Curie Group.

The commune also has the André Malraux College of general education and SEGPA [fr].

The town has two high schools: Lycée Léon Julliot de la Morandière for general, technological and professional [fr] education, and the Maurice-Marland hotelier's school.

Added to these establishments is the Sévigné Institution,[50] a private school [fr] with boarding school from kindergarten to high school, and the Notre Dame and St. Paul schools for kindergarten and elementary education.

The commune is one of the seats of the CCI of Centre and South-Manche [fr], it hosts a GRETA [fr], the group of Formation Inter-consulaires de la Manche [Inter-consular training of Manche] (FIM), an Institute of Nursing and the Family and Rural House, providing agricultural and commercial training.

Finally, the commune has a leisure centre for the reception of children out of school periods, a family crèche and a multi-host centre for young children.

  • Educational establishments in Granville
  •  
    The André-Malraux College in the former Bazeilles barracks
  •  
    The Sévigné Institution

Health edit

Main article: Hospital Centre of Avranches-Granville

The commune has on its territory, in association with Avranches, a hospital centre [fr] with a capacity of 742 beds, offering services of general medicine, surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, cardiology and SMUR.[51] The centre is also equipped with a scanner. In 2007, a ministerial decision endorsed the closure of the maternity of the communal hospital[52] carrying 410 deliveries per year.[53]

The commune also hosts on its territory a centre of re-education and rehabilitation, a centre of thalassotherapy, three Residential homes for elderly dependents, two health centres, 91 doctors,[54] eight dentists[55] and seven pharmacists.[56]

Several medical or social associations are located on the commune, such as the Union of the Speech Therapists of Manche, the SNSM, the Rotary Club, the Red Cross and the Secours Populaire.

Public services edit

Granville welcomes the CCI of Centre and South-Manche [fr], a CAF [fr], a subdivision of the DDE [fr], a centre of social security, a tax office and treasury, a gendarmerie barracks, a police station, a relief and fire centre, a customs office, a post office in the town centre[57] and one in the quarter of Saint-Nicolas,[58] agencies of ASSEDIC, ANPE and AFPA [fr], an auction house and three notarial offices, two lawyers' offices[59] attached to the bar of Avranches and a bailiff's office.[60] The civil security has a base for monitoring the English Channel equipped with a Eurocopter EC145.[61]

Twin towns – Sister cities edit

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Granville has been twinned with Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, at a distance of 4,859 km (3,019 mi), since 1984.

Granville is a founding member of the Douzelage, a unique town twinning association of 24 towns across the European Union. This active town twinning began in 1991 and there are regular events, such as a produce market from each of the other countries and festivals.[62][63][64] Henry Haffray, initiator and founder of the douzelage was the first president of the Granville partenaire européen [Granville European partner] association, he was followed for more than a dozen years by Jean-Marc Julienne, then André Gendre and Pascale Vallée.[citation needed]

Members of the Douzelage

Daily life in Granville edit

Culture edit

The commune has much cultural infrastructure, including three museums: The Christian Dior Museum [fr] and its garden, located in the childhood home of the fashion designer, which allows one to discover the artistic and cultural context of the time of Christian Dior on the history of fashion, the Museum of the Old Granville [fr], located in the home of the King who provides an overview of the history of the city, and the Richard Anacréon Modern Art Museum [fr]. It also hosts an aquarium located on the Pointe du Roc which shows many species of warm-water marine fish and three exhibition spaces: The Féerie des Coquillages [Enchantment of the Shells], the Palais Minéral [Mineral Palace] and the Jardin des Papillons [Butterfly Garden].

For cultural recreation, the Charles de la Morandière media library, in the town centre, the Room of the Archipelago, a multipurpose room of 600 seats and a 400-seat open-air theatre has been open since 2006, the small Theatre of the Peninsula with a capacity of 65 seats, the newly renovated Le Select cinema offers three rooms, a music school and a digital public space [fr] animate the life of the commune.

Sixty-four associations [fr] relay and encourage communal cultural life.

Sport edit

Granville is equipped with numerous sporting facilities allowing the practice of numerous activities, the Cité des sports equipped with two football pitches, two rugby pitches, two basketball courts, an asphalt athletics track, a boulodrome [fr], a skatepark, a BMX track, four judo and gymnastics halls, the Louis-Dior Stadium, equipped with a football field of honour of two other fields and a cinder athletics track, the André Malraux and Pierre de Coubertin indoor gyms, a covered swimming pool, ten clay and GreenSet covered tennis courts, a sea rowing club, the Regional Sailing Centre, a 27-hole golf course built in 1912 on the seafront, the equestrian club and the racecourse of trot and gallop, with flat and obstacles, opened in 1890 and located in the communes of Bréville-sur-Mer and Donville-les-Bains, clay pigeon shooting, the regional parachuting school and two independent schools, the flying club and ultralight flying school.

 
The bisquine La Granvillaise

A municipal sports school and a municipal swimming school provide training for members. Sixty-two associations ensure the relay of communal services.

In road cycling, Granville was a stage town of the 1957 Tour de France, and the Tour de la Manche [fr] ends each year at Granville. The commune hosted the start of the third stage of the 2016 Tour de France.[66]

In sailing, Granville is a stage town each year of the Tour de France à la voile. In August are organized: A swimming tour of the Roc, the Chausey regatta, the Course des Bisquines [fr] where La Granvillaise and La Cancalaise confront each other, the raid of catamaran in the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel.

The Union Sportive Granvillaise has developed two football teams in the League of Lower Normandy [fr] and a third team in the district division.[67]

Granville has also developed its first men's handball team in National 3.

  • Sports facilities of Granville
  •  
    The municipal swimming pool
  •  
    Entrance of the Louis-Dior Stadium
  •  
    A general view of the racecourse

Religion edit

The Catholic churches of Granville are Notre-Dame-du-Cap-Lihou [fr], Saint Paul and Saint Nicolas. They depend on the parish of St. Clement of the Deanery of the Lands of Granville-Villedieu in the Diocese of Coutances and Avranches. The bishop of this diocese is Stanislas Lalanne.

Granville has hosted several congregations, which those of the Sacred Heart and Mercy. Also, between 1839 and 2008, the Sisters Hospitaller of Saint-Thomas-de-Villeneuve were responsible for the hospice of Granville and for the St. Nicolas Care Centre from 1976. The upper town still houses Carmelites.

A Protestant temple of the Reformed Church of France and another of the Evangelical Church welcome the faithful.

  • Churches of Granville
  •  
    The church of Notre-Dame-du-Cap-Lihou
  •  
    The church of Saint-Paul seen from the upper town
  •  
    The church of Saint-Nicolas
  •  
    The Protestant temple

Media edit

The weekly La Manche Libre [fr] and the newspaper Ouest-France have premises in the commune and distribute a specific local edition in the Granville area. Granville is located in the transmission area of the television channel France 3 Normandie. A local correspondent of the Gazette de l'Avranchin and of the Mortainais officiates in the commune.

Economy edit

Granville is the seat of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Central and South Manche [fr]. It manages the port and airport (IATA: GFR, ICAO: LFRF) of the commune. It is the main centre of the labour area [fr] of Granville, covering 46 communes.[68] and an important tourist resort of the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel. Accessible via Granville railway station and situated 25 km (16 mi) from the Route des Estuaires [fr], it is an important economic hub in the south of the department of Manche. It has set up a business incubator and has three areas of activity or industrial areas: Le Mesnil, La Parfonterie and Le Prétôt. The largest employers in the commune are the centre of thalassotherapy Le Normandy, the Compagnie Générale des Eaux and the biscotte factory of LU-Heudebert [fr] opened in 1973. In 2017, the unemployment rate was 11.5% for a rated active population of 4,514 people. 44.5% of the main residences were inhabited by their owners (2017), and the commune hosts 1,617 companies (2015).[69] Granville was a garrison town with the presence of a contingent of the 1st RIMa until 1984. A market is held every Saturday on the Cours Jonville.

Distribution of employment by socioprofessionnal category [fr] in 2006.
  Farmers Artisans, merchants, CEOs Managers and higher professionals Intermediate professions Employees Manual workers
Granville 0.3% 7.1% 10.6% 24.0% 32.5% 24.0%
Distribution of employment by business sector in 2006.
  Agriculture Industry Construction Trade, services Public services
Granville 1.8% 8.6% 5.2% 44.4% 40.0%
Sources: Insee[69]

Port of Granville edit

 
Panorama of the port of Granville from the Haute-Ville. From left to right: In the background, the Hérel Marina, the pier for Chausey, the fishing port hall and the harbour at low tide.

The port of Granville dates back to the 16th century. It is managed by the CCI of Centre and South-Manche [fr] and includes boating activities, fishing, commercial and passenger traffic.

This part of the Channel is known for its many rocks off the coast, not always visible above sea level, and for the dangerous flows caused by tides. The bay of Mont Saint-Michel experiences one of the greatest tidal ranges in the world, and this causes strong currents that generate dangerous flows into the international sea routes, adding to the normal tidal flow that goes along the Channel. The area also often experiences fog as well as easterly winds which can create dangerous storms during autumn and winter.

The waters off Granville are regularly affected by pollution caused by modern shipwrecks, or by illegal fuel tank discharges into the sea. There is now an international agreement between France and the UK, as well as other European countries bordering the Channel, to severely punish ship-owners when such pollution can be proven. The area is constantly under surveillance by aircraft and radar operated by civil and military authorities. Granville harbour hosts a small maritime emergency rescue team.

The number of rocks and shipwrecks in the area creates an environment rich in seafood, which can be exploited from the small harbour of Granville. Fishing is dangerous in the area, and many small fishing boats have been involved in collisions with large commercial vessels such as container ships and oil supertankers.

In 2005, Granville was placed at 32nd in the national rank with 197,000 tonnes of handled cargo and 44,100 passengers. It is also a permanent station of the SNSM which has a lifeboat (registered SNS 074) and two RIBs.

A cod fishing and oyster port in the 19th century, it became:

  • There are some sea services to England and to the Channel Islands. This traffic is relatively light from Granville, as Saint-Malo and Cherbourg offer more industrialised facilities for passenger and cargo traffic. Manche Iles Express operates a ferry from Granville to St Helier, 33.6 mi (54.1 km) away.[70] A port for the carriage of passengers with the ferries Douce France, Jolie France II and Joly France I destined for the Chausey and Channel Islands. Although there are no regular passenger sea services between Granville and Chausey. French and British security forces operate permanently in this very dangerous and narrow area of the Channel, which is one of the busiest sealanes in the world.
  • A trading port with the capacity to accommodate ships of 18 m (59 ft) wide,[71] 125 m (410 ft) long and five to six thousand tons of capacity, primarily for shipments of scrap metal, sand and gravel equipped with two cranes that can lift one hundred to three hundred tons per hour, and with a conveyor belt with a capacity of 750 tons per hour. The maximum permissible draught in Granville harbour is 11.60 with a tidal coefficient of 100.
  • The first Norman fishing port of shellfish (clams, whelks, dog cockles, Saint-Jacques scallops), crustaceans (lobsters, brown crabs, small crabs, spider crabs) and fish (bream, rays, sharks, soles, pollock, bass, red mullet, cod, cuttlefish and squid) for local consumption with a fish market, a refrigerating terminal and a computerised sale of products. The tonnage landed (excluding farming) is of the order of 16,000 tonnes per year. An average of seventy-five equipped vessels with nearly 450 professional sailors attend the port. The marine cultures present on the islands of Chausey produce nearly 250 tons of clams, 5,000 tonnes of mussels and 100 tons of oysters.
     
    An aerial view of the development project of the port of Granville
  • A marina, since 1975, of a thousand docking rings at the Hérel Basin.[72] It hosts 3,500 vessels per year, with an average of three passengers per boat. They represent €787,000 of direct benefits, in addition to an annual turnover of €25 million for the 40 companies which work from the marina.[73] Located a few minutes walk from the town centre, the Hérel Marina is one of the local economic lungs.

A port redevelopment and expansion project will provide an additional seven hundred places for recreational boating, the excavation of basins and access channels to extend access times and beaching capacity, the addition of a quayside for cruise ships and of exception, a new port city link, with the study of a railway extension project a redevelopment of the road routes, respecting and valuing the environmental and architectural heritage including the piers of the 18th and 19th centuries.[74]

Granville-Mont-Saint-Michel Airport edit

Main article: Granville-Mont-Saint-Michel Airport

The airport of Granville-Mont-Saint-Michel specialises in tourist and leisure aviation.

Tourism edit

The commune has been classified as a climate resort since 16 March 1926, and a tourist and seaside resort since 12 March 1979.[75] Tourism is an important part of the local economy. The commune has a tourist office which ensures the promotion of monuments, museums and natural sites, and has joined the association of the Most Beautiful Detours of France. It offers much infrastructure, including some certified by the Quality Tourism [fr] label issued by the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance:[76] Two three-star hotels, six two-star hotels and seven hotels not classified with a total of 213 rooms, two three-star campsites with a total of 145 pitches, communal gites on the Chausey Islands and guest rooms, a youth hostel, a thalassotherapy centre, thirty-three restaurants with a total of 1,931 seats.

For entertainment, the city offers an independent casino, four museums, an aquarium, a rich architectural and environmental heritage, four beaches, and four Wi-Fi access points.[77] 17.5% of Granville housing are second homes, with 54.1% of apartments. Several cruises start at the port of Granville, with destinations including Chausey, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight, the Isles of Scilly, and Ireland, including by the passenger ferries of Granville, the Lys Noir [fr] and La Granvillaise [fr].

This organisation and the promotion of tourism provides an important attendance to the area, with 69,627 passengers to Chausey in 2006,[78] 54,301 visitors for the Christian-Dior Museum [fr], and 43,500 for the Aquarium du Roc in 2005.

  • Tourist facilities in Granville
  •  
    The casino
  •  
    The aquarium "Le Roc des harmonies"

Local culture and heritage edit

Environmental heritage edit

Granville is located near the protected site of the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, the cliff, the Haute-Ville and the Chausey Islands, are themselves included in the list of sites protected by the DIREN [fr] of Normandy.[79] From north to south through the peninsula, the city is crossed by the hiking trail GR 223 which traverses Normandy from Honfleur to Avranches along the coast.

The town was awarded three flowers in the Competition of flowery cities and villages[80] thanks to its parks and gardens: The Christian Dior Garden, the Val-ès-Fleur Park of 3 ha (7.4 acres) complete with a zoo, the squares of Marland, the Arsenal, Chartier, Bisquine, the Charles VII promenades, those of the harbour and of the Plat Gousset. The landscaped golf course, on the territory of Bréville-sur-Mer, was designed by Harry Colt in 1912 and provides 27 holes of links golf.

The Chausey islands were proposed for integration into the Natura 2000 network in 1992, but the Council of the community of communes [fr] gave an unfavourable opinion in 2003, blocking the procedure to date.[81][82] However, the Conservatoire du littoral has acquired the Pointe du Phare.[83]

In addition, the town has on its territory a sewage treatment plant and a waste processing plant for incineration and recycling. It has also set up waste sorting and heads the Joint Association of Granville Coastal Areas for coastal protection against microbiological hazards.

  • Environmental heritage of Granville
  •  
    The Christian-Dior Garden
  •  
    The Val-ès-Fleur Park

Architectural heritage edit

 
Notre-Dame du Cap Lihou Church
 
The Christian Dior Museum at the Villa Les Rhumbs
 
The Lys Noir, French yawl from 1914, is based in Granville

Granville heritage is rich of numerous religious buildings including the Notre-Dame du Cap Lihou Church [fr], The ancient church of Notre-Dame du Cap Lihou (1441–1796) it dominates the heights, constitutes an imposing granite building of the Romanesque / early Gothic style. It was built by the English during the Hundred Years' War. The choir is of 1641, the nave of 1655, the apse chapels in 1676 and 1688, and the sacristy is of 1771, a listed historical monument since 1930,[84] it is decorated with stained glass by Jacques Le Chevallier. As well as a thirteenth-century miraculous statue of Mary, visitors should note, on the eighteenth-century façade, the quatrain:

Si l'amour de Marie
Est en ton cœur gravé
En passant ne t'oublie
De lui dire un Ave.

("If love of Mary is engraved on your heart, when passing do not forget to say Hail to her.") The same verses are to be seen on the façade of Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours in Montréal. There is also St. Paul's Church, the St. Nicholas Church and the Protestant temple.

The lower town was partly built on land reclaimed from the sea. Granville's military past remains, the upper part of the old town is surrounded with the enclosure [fr] consisting of the ramparts from the fifteenth century, the drawbridge (Grande'Porte), the bloody theatre of the "Siège des Vendéens" in 1793, built in the 15th century, destroyed and then raised in 1727, and listed as an historical monument since 2004.[85] Inside the walls of the upper town are some beautiful houses of which several are concentrated on Rue Saint-Jean. On the Pointe du Roc overlooking the town, the Bazeilles barracks built in 1758, the Gênes-Champagne barracks built in 1788 and the battery built in 1942 by the German occupiers have been listed monuments since 1987 and 1994.[86]

The Château de Grainville [fr], built in the 15th century, registered as an historic monument since 1980,[87] the Château de la Crête, and Saint-Nicolas' Manor, built in 1786 by the shipowner Nicolas Deslandes, have been registered monuments since 1986[88] and bear witness to the importance of certain families in the region.

The statue of Pléville le Peley at the port celebrates the most illustrious character of the city.

The casino of Art Nouveau and Art Deco style, built between 1910 and 1925 by architect Auguste Bluysen [fr], has been listed as an historic monument since 1992,[89] the hotel des bains of 1926, the railway station of the 19th century, the lighthouse of Cap Lihou [fr], built in 1828, according to a study of Augustin Fresnel, 18 m (59 ft) high, Chausey Lighthouse [fr], built in 1844, 19 m (62 ft) high, both classified as historical monuments,[90] the Sénéquet Lighthouse [fr] on the rock of Sénéquet, 2 nmi (3.7 km) off the coast and 27-hole golf course built in 1912 by Harry Shapland Colt all date from the beginning of the resort nature of the commune.

The covered market was labeled 'Heritage of the 20th century' by the DRAC. The residential tower "Le Charme" [The Charm] located on Rue Jean Rostand dominates the commune with its thirteen floors.[91]

There is a museum located in one of the gates which preserves invaluable documents enabling visitors to discover the history of the town through the centuries.

Granville also is the home of the Christian Dior Museum, which is located in the fashion designer's childhood home, Villa Les Rhumbs.[92]

After a first bid at the beginning of the 1990s, Granville postulated in 2009 to be labelled Town of Art and History.[93] Declared 1 July 2015, in the sub-prefecture of Avranches, the association law 1901 "Granville, country of the foreshore" which comprises the communes of Granville and Saint-Pair-sur-Mer, Jullouville and Carolles, is now the candidacy "Lands of Art and History" label.

  • Architecture of Granville
  •  
    The gatehouse of the Haute-Ville
  •  
    The Château de la Crête
  •  
    The Bank of France building
  •  
    The hôtel des bains
  •  
    The covered market

Festivities edit

The festive year of Granville revolves around various events. The carnival [fr] takes place every year during the week before Mardi gras. It once celebrated the departure of the sailors who took advantage of the holiday before sailing for Newfoundland.[94][95] In 2007, for its 134th edition, it hosted more than 130,000 spectators. The feast of the patron saint of the commune is organised at Pentecost. Each year, the third week of July is dedicated to the Rue Sorties de Bains festival, of which the fifth edition took place in 2007. Outdoor concerts are held during the tourist season. The procession of the Grand Pardon des Corporations et de la Mer [Atonement of the Corporations and the Sea] is traditionally held the last Sunday of July. The Night of Welders, a festival gathering metalworking artists, takes place during the first weekend of August. The same weekend the Journée du Livre [Day of the Book] is organised, during which writers dedicate their works.

Two fairs are held on the second Saturday in April and the third Saturday of September, a flea market is organised during the weekend of 14 July and an antique fair during the weekend before 15 August. A collectors fair is scheduled for the last Sunday in October. In 2005, the commune celebrated the centenary of the birth of Christian Dior by organising, across the town, exhibitions and retrospectives on the work and life of the couturier. The Christian Dior Museum sometimes serves as a framework for events, as was the case in 2008 for the exhibition entitled "Dandysmes - 1808–2008, of Barbey d'Aurevilly at Christian Dior".[96]

Personalities linked to the commune edit

Several public figures were born, died or lived in Granville:

Born in Granville edit

 
Statue of Georges René Le Peley de Pléville, work in bronze and granite of sculptor Serge Santucci and architect François Pougheol.
 
A bust of Christian Dior in the garden of his house

Died in Granville edit

  • Eustache Bérat [fr] (1791–1870), artist and songwriter
  • Edmond-Marie Poullain [fr] (1878–1951), painter, died and is buried in Granville
  • Jean Tissier (1896–1973), actor
  • Eric Crozier (1914–1994), librettist and theatrical director
  • Guy Degrenne (1925–2006), businessman

Others edit

  • Georges Bonheur, investor who was significant to the development of Granville as a seaside resort at the beginning of the 20th century. About the impact of his life and how it is still relevant in Granville today.
  • Richard I de Grenville (died after 1142), Anglo-Norman knight
  • Thomas de Scales (c. 1400–1460), Knight of the Garter, founded the citadel
  • John Granville (1628–1701), 1st Earl of Bath, soldier of the English Civil War, lived in Granville
  • George Granville (1666–1735), 1st Baron Lansdowne, English poet, playwright and politician, lived in Granville
  • Robert Carteret, 3rd Earl Granville (1721–1776), 3rd Earl Granville, lived in Granville
  • Louis Jacob (1768–1854), politician and admiral, lived in Granville
  • Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), writer, stayed there in 1829. He evoked the headquarters in Granville in Le Réquisitionnaire in 1831
  • Émile Riotteau [fr] (1837–1927), shipowner, politician, mayor of Granville from 1882 to 1888, lived in Granville
  • Eugène Le Mouël [fr] (1859–1934), writer and poet, lived in Granville
  • Maurice Orange (1867–1916), painter, lived in Granville
  • Fernand Fleuret [fr] (1883–1945), poet, stayed in Granville during his youth
  • Maurice Marland (1888–1944), chief of the Resistance of Granville during World War II, a professor in the same town
  • Marin-Marie [fr] (1901–1987), writer and painter, lived at Chausey
  • Bernard Beck [fr] (1914–2009), first president of the Court of Auditors in 1978–1982, was mayor
  • Bertrand Poirot-Delpech (1929–2006), journalist, writer and academician, lived at Chausey

Stendhal, Jules Michelet, Victor Hugo, Adolphe Willette and Gustave Goublier also all stayed in Granville.

Heraldry edit

 
Arms of Granville
 Azure, an armed dextrochere issuant from a cloud issuant from sinister Or, maintaining a sword argent garnished Or, and in chief a sun Or.[99] They represent Joshua arresting the sun (Old Testament, Book of Joshua, Chapter 10, verses 12-13).

N.B.: a dextrochere is a right arm (literally right hand).



 

The coat of arms of Granville has changed several times during its history. The first, granted by Charles VIII in 1487 was thus:

  • Azure a dextrochère Or, issuant from a cloud of the same, which holds a sword argent mounted Or and placed between three stars of the same.

The sword symbolising the patriotism of the city during the English occupation, the stars appearing on the night of 8 November 1442 when Louis d'Estouteville [fr] took over the city.

 

The second coat of arms was established in 1697:

  • Azure with dextrochère armed Or issuant from a cloud of the same and holding a sword argent, the guard and handle Or, surmounted by a Sun of the same.

The Sun replaced the stars, this new coat of arms symbolised the importance of Granville in the monitoring of the coast of the Bay.

 

In 1793, the influence of the Revolution changed the azure to gules, but the arm is no longer armed and the sword became an honorary, which gives:

  • Gules an arm stretched argent emerging from a cloud azure, holding a sword argent of a guard Or in pale.
 

In 1811, the First Empire offered new arms to the town, Napoleon adding distinctive towns of second-order signs, a quarter charged with a capital N and a gold star and the exterior ornament of a mural crown:

  • Azure on a cloudy fess argent, together with three stars Or, two in chief and one in point, dextrochère armed, sable, moving from sinister side of the shield and holding a sword high Or, quarter and trappings of the towns of second order.


Finally, in 1816 under the Restoration, the town returned to its coat of arms from 1697, unable to pay the registration fee to return to the original coat of arms. This coat of arms is now of the commune, the azure and Sun symbolising its seaside character, the sword recalling its military past of garrison town.[100]

The Granville arms appear on the locomotives nos. X4791 and 8719C of the SNCF under the sponsorship of the commune.[101]

The commune also has a logo.

The commune also has a flag representing a quarterly of blue and white, with a white cross encircled in blue and charged with a representation of the coat of arms in the centre. It is notably used on the commune's yawls.

Gastronomy edit

Granville is renowned for its marine products, including Granvillaise galette with scallops sprinkled with cream, sea bream in salt crust with virgin sauce (mussels, shrimps, sea snails and whelks), and the Granvillaise sole accompanied with mussels and prawns. A speciality of the island quarter of Chausey is also linked: The green sauce of Chausey [fr]. On Saturday, a market is held in the town centre to purchase local produce. Finally, the Maurice Marland de Granville Hotel School guarantees the dissemination of knowledge of Norman cuisine [fr].

Granville dialect edit

Beyond the Norman dialect, there a dialect of the Granville area with its expressions. An example expression is "achitrer" which means "to land a punch".[102]

Granville in the arts and culture edit

Granville is the subject of several paintings including Bateaux à Granville [Boats at Granville] painted in 1889 by Maurice Denis,[103] Les brisants à la pointe de Granville [The breakers at the tip of Granville] painted around 1852 by Paul Huet and kept in the Louvre,[104] Plage de Granville [Beach of Granville] painted in 1863 by Eugène Isabey.[105]

Myths and legends edit

  • The Chausey Islands are part of the ancient Forest of Scissy [fr], a former place of pagan worship, which covered the bay and which reportedly disappeared in 709AD under the waves.
  • According to a popular belief, the Chausey Islands consist of 52 islands at high tide and 365 at low tide, as the number of weeks and days in a year, respectively.

Gallery edit

  •  
    A general view of Granville from the ramparts
  •  
    The Plat-Gousset beach
  •  
    The façade of a Granville house on the rampart, Rue du Midi.

See also edit

Notes edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ Commune de Granville (50218), INSEE
  4. ^ a b c [Gazetteer of Communes in 2013]. IGN (in French). Archived from the original on 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  5. ^ [Data erosion of the coast between 1994 and 2006] (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-09-28.
  6. ^ [Granville: Urban transport service in 2014]. La Manche libre.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Fiche du QPV de l'Agora sur le site de la mission interministérielle à la Ville" [Sheet of the QPV of the Agora on the site of the inter-ministerial mission to the city.] (in French). Archived from the original on 2012-06-04.
  8. ^ a b c d de Beaurepaire, François (1986). Les noms des communes et anciennes paroisses de la Manche [The names of ancient parishes and communes of Manche] (in French). éditions Picard. p.127.
  9. ^ Dauzat, Albert; Rostaing, Charles (1989). Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieu en France [Etymological dictionary of place names in France] (in French). Paris: Librairie Guénégaud. ISBN 2-85023-076-6. p.329.
  10. ^ Ibidem.
  11. ^ Nègre, Ernest. Toponymie générale de la France [Toponymy General of France] (in French). Vol. 1. Droz. p.1424.
  12. ^ Lepelley, René (1996). Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de communes de Normandie [Etymological dictionary of the names of communes of Normandy] (in French). Presses Universitaires de Caen. ISBN 2-905461-80-2. p.138.
  13. ^ a b Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Granville, EHESS (in French).
  14. ^ [Granville Chronology]. Yves Lebrec (in French). Archived from the original on 4 January 2007.
  15. ^ [History of Granville]. Town hall of Granville (in French). Archived from the original on 2010-09-26.
  16. ^ Miniac, Jean-François (2012). Les Nouvelles Affaires criminelles de la Manche [The New Criminal Matters of Manche] (in French). de Borée.
  17. ^ "'Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy' in Granville". 9 May 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  18. ^ [Dying for Freedom, Maurice Marland]. lycée hôtelier de Granville (in French). Académie de Caen. Archived from the original on 11 December 2006.
  19. ^ Jacques Legrand (November 1990). Chroniques de la Seconde Guerre mondiale [Chronicles of the Second World War] (in French). éditions Chronique. page 611.
  20. ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Saint-Nicolas-près-Granville, EHESS (in French).
  21. ^ "Voyage de M. Pompidou dans la Manche". INA.fr. Youtube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  22. ^ Le nom des habitants du 50 - Manche, habitants.fr
  23. ^ "Répartition de la population par nationalités". Insee.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ a b "Fiche de synthèse démographique". sig.ville.gouv.fr. Archived from the original on 2012-12-18.
  25. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  26. ^ "Commune de Granville (50218) – Dossier complet" [Commune of Granville (50218) – Complete dossier]. insee.fr (in French). Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  27. ^ "Département de La Manche (50) – Dossier complet" [Department of Manche (50) – Complete dossier]. insee.fr (in French). Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  28. ^ "Élections municipales et communautaires 2014 - MANCHE (50) - Granville" [Municipal and Community elections 2014 - MANCHE (50) - Granville]. elections.interieur.gouv.fr (in French). Ministry of the Interior.
  29. ^ a b c "Granville (50400) – Municipales 2014". elections.ouest-france.fr. Ouest-France.
  30. ^ "Comptes municipaux de Granville" [Municipal accounts Granville]. Base Alize (in French). Ministry of Finance. Archived from the original on 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
  31. ^ "Dette communale" [Municipal debt]. Base Alize (in French). Ministry of Finance. Archived from the original on 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
  32. ^ "Taux de taxes" [Tax rates]. taxe.com (in French).
  33. ^ [Municipal journal] (PDF) (in French). October 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 November 2008.
  34. ^ a b "Liste des maires de Granville" [List of mayors of Granville] (in French).
  35. ^ "Résultats de l'élection présidentielle 2002" [Results of the 2002 Presidential Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  36. ^ "Résultats de l'élection présidentielle 2007" [Results of the 2007 Presidential Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  37. ^ "Résultats de l'élection présidentielle 2012" [Results of the 2012 Presidential Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  38. ^ "Résultats de l'élection législative 2002" [Results of the 2002 Legislative Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  39. ^ "Résultats de l'élection législative 2007" [Results of the 2007 Legislative Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  40. ^ "Résultats de l'élection législative 2012" [Results of the 2012 Legislative Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  41. ^ "Résultats de l'élection européenne 2004" [Results of the 2004 European Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French). Archived from the original on 2012-06-04.
  42. ^ "Résultats de l'élection européenne 2009" [Results of the 2009 European Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).[permanent dead link]
  43. ^ "Résultats de l'élection régionale 2004" [Results of the 2004 Regional Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  44. ^ "Résultats de l'élection régionale 2010" [Results of the 2010 Regional Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  45. ^ "Résultats élection cantonale 2008" [Results of the 2008 Cantonal Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  46. ^ "Résultats de l'élection municipale de 2001 (1er tour)" [Results of the 2001 Municipal Election (1st round)]. Ouest-France (in French).
  47. ^ [Results of the 2008 Municipal Election]. Ministry of the Interior (in French). Archived from the original on 2008-03-13.
  48. ^ "Résultats du référendum 2000" [Results of the 2000 Referendum]. politiquemania.com (in French).
  49. ^ "Résultats du référendum 2005" [Results of the 2005 Referendum]. Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  50. ^ "Institution Sévigné" [Sévigné Institution] (in French).
  51. ^ [Data of the Hospital Centre of Avranches-Granville] (in French). Archived from the original on 2006-12-10.
  52. ^ [Article on the closure of the maternity ward of Granville] (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-03-03.
  53. ^ [Maternity guide] (in French). Archived from the original on 29 June 2007.
  54. ^ "Annuaire des médecins granvillais" [Directory of Granville doctors]. Conseil de l'Ordre (in French).
  55. ^ [Directory of dentists] (in French). Archived from the original on 2008-06-01.
  56. ^ [Directory of pharmacists]. Conseil de l'Ordre (in French). Archived from the original on 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  57. ^ [Post Offices of Granville]. La Poste (in French). Archived from the original on 2014-12-21. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  58. ^ [Post Offices of Granville]. La Poste (in French). Archived from the original on 2014-12-21. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  59. ^ [Directory of Lawyers]. Conseil National des Barreaux (in French). Archived from the original on 18 October 2007.
  60. ^ [Directory of bailiffs]. Chambre Nationale (in French). Archived from the original on 2015-11-02. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  61. ^ "Sécurité civile" [Civil security]. Préfecture maritime (in French). Archived from the original on 24 February 2011.
  62. ^ . www.douzelage.org. Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  63. ^ . www.douzelage.org. Archived from the original on 2009-04-06. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  64. ^ "National Commission for Decentralised cooperation". Délégation pour l'Action Extérieure des Collectivités Territoriales (Ministère des Affaires étrangères) (in French). Archived from the original on 2013-11-27. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
  65. ^ . Archant Community Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 2013-07-05. Retrieved 2013-07-11.
  66. ^ . Letour.fr. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  67. ^ "US Granvillaise". League of Lower Normandy (in French). Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  68. ^ "Zone d'emploi 2020 de Granville (2810)". Insee (in French).
  69. ^ a b "Dossier complet, Commune de Granville (50218)". INSEE (in French).
  70. ^ "Accueill". manche-iles-express.com. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  71. ^ . granville.cci.fr. Archived from the original on 2014-01-27. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  72. ^ [The ports] (in French). Archived from the original on 18 January 2007.
  73. ^ Ouest-France of 5 December 2008
  74. ^ [Development project of the port of Granville]. Conseil général de la Manche (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2015-10-23.
  75. ^ [List of classified stations]. Ministry of the Economy and Finance (in French). Archived from the original on 2012-02-11.
  76. ^ [List of establishments labeled Quality Tourism in Normandy] (PDF) (in French). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-10.
  77. ^ "Granville (50400), Manche". Journal du Net (in French).
  78. ^ "Rapport d'analyse touristique de la Manche" [Tourist Analysis Report of Manche] (PDF) (in French). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-24.
  79. ^ [Registered sites of the Manche department] (PDF). Direction Regionale de l'Environnement Basse-Normandie (in French). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-04.
  80. ^ [Ranking of labeled communes]. Villes et Villages Fleuris (in French). Archived from the original on 20 October 2008.
  81. ^ [The Natura 2000 network]. Granville (in French). Archived from the original on 23 November 2008.
  82. ^ [Chausey]. Natura 2000 (in French). Archived from the original on 3 October 2010.
  83. ^ [Chausey Islands]. Conservatoire du Littoral (in French). Archived from the original on 18 November 2006.
  84. ^ Base Mérimée: PA00110418, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
  85. ^ Base Mérimée: PA00110421, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
  86. ^ Base Mérimée: PA00110414, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
  87. ^ Base Mérimée: PA00110415, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
  88. ^ Base Mérimée: PA00110420, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
  89. ^ Base Mérimée: PA00110661, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
  90. ^ "Trois phares classés Monuments historiques" [Three lighthouses classified as historic monuments]. Ouest-France (in French). 25 July 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  91. ^ . Emporis. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  92. ^ musee-dior-granville.com
  93. ^ "Granville vise le label". Ouest-France. 7 February 2009. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012.
  94. ^ [Heritage]. Town hall of Granville (in French). Archived from the original on 2010-09-25.
  95. ^ "Carnaval de Granville" [Carnival of Granville]. Carnaval of Granville (in French). Archived from the original on 2012-06-04.
  96. ^ "Musée Dior: " Dandysmes " jusqu'au 21 septembre" [Dior Museum: "Dandysmes" until September 21]. granville.maville.com (in French). Ouest-France. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  97. ^ Bémont, Charles (1911). "Bréquigny, Louis Georges Oudard Feudrix de" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). pp. 497–498.
  98. ^ "Boisgobey, Fortuné du" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 153–154.
  99. ^ Gaso, la banque du blason.
  100. ^ [History of the blason of Granville]. ville-granville.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 2010-01-08.
  101. ^ "Liste des blasons de parrainage des locomotives SNCF". Archived from the original on 2001-02-22. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
  102. ^ Du Bois, Louis. "Glossaire du patois normand" [Glossary of the Norman dialect] (in French).
  103. ^ Base Joconde: Reference no. 01610000009, French Ministry of Culture. (in French)
  104. ^ Base Joconde: Reference no. 000PE001501, French Ministry of Culture. (in French)
  105. ^ Base Joconde: Reference no. 00000065878, French Ministry of Culture. (in French)

Bibliography edit

  • Mordal, Jacques (1964). Hold up naval à Granville. Nuit du 8 au 9 mars 1945 [Naval hold up to Granville. Night of 8 to 9 March 1945] (in French). France-Empire.
  • Villand, Rémy (1984). L'activité du port de Granville en 1619 [The activity of the port of Granville in 1619] (in French). Saint-Lô: Société d'archéologie de la Manche.
  • Cardot, Pierre (1990). Le clergé de Granville et des environs sous la Révolution [The clergy of Granville and its surroundings under the Revolution] (in French). Original illustrations by Ernest Cocar.
  • Guidelou, M. (1990). Histoire de Granville [History of Granville] (in French). Paris: Res universis; Lorisse. ISBN 9782877605069.
  • Hébert, Michel; Ernouf, Maurice (1995). Granville [Granville] (in French). Joué-lès-Tours: Alan Sutton [fr].
  • Hollande, Emmanuel (1997). Les ports de plaisance de Granville et de Barneville-Carteret: Mémoire de maîtrise [The marinas of Granville and Barneville-Carteret: Master's memories] (in French). Université de Caen.
  • Marie known as Naour, Édouard; Fleury, Georges (1998). Le Port de Granville: la vie des marins-pecheurs de 1930 à nos jours [The port of Granville: The life of fishermen from 1930 to the present] (in French). Granville: Édouard Marie.
  • Bordes, Isabelle; Leligny, Jean-Michel (January 2000). Pêcheurs à Granville: de la morue à la praire [Fishermen in Granville: Of the cod to the clam] (in French). Pays de Normandie.
  • Hurel, Claude (December 2000). Curiosités linguistiques au Pays de Granville [Linguistic curiosities of the lands of Granville] (in French). Revue de l'Avranchin et du Pays de Granville.
  • Reffuveille, Antoine (2001). La flotte corsaire de Granville pendant la guerre d'Indépendance américaine: 1778-1783 [The Granville privateer fleet during the American War of Independence: 1778-1783] (in French).
  • Sinsoilliez, Robert (2001). Le siège de Granville [The siege of Granville] (in French). Saint-Lô: Société d'archéologie et d'histoire de la Manche.
  • Noël Le Coutour, Elizabeth (2001). Le Merle Blanc de la Monaco du Nord: Biographie de Richard Anacréon [The Albino Blackbird of the Monaco of the North: Biography of Richard Anacréon] (in French). L'Harmattan. ISBN 9782296003880.
  • Bougeard, Jacques; Goëlau, Jean-Louis; Santier, Jean-Marc (June 2003). Granville Mémoires de Carnaval [Granville Carnival Memories] (in French). Eurocibles.
  • Goëlau, Jean-Louis (March 2007). Granville Ville de garnison [Granville garrison town] (in French). Eurocibles.
  • Thin, Edmond (2007). Granville, Citadelle de la Mer [Granville, Citadel of the sea] (in French). Orep. ISBN 9782915762433.
  • Santier, Jean-Marc (2010). Granville 70 ans de fêtes et de sports [Granville 70 years of festivals and sports] (in French). Patrimoines Médias.
  • Cahierre, Anne (2009). Dictionnaire des capitaines corsaires granvillais [Dictionary of privateer captains of Granville] (in French). Archives départementales de la manche.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Granville.
 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Granville (Normandy).

January 01, 1970
granville, manche, granville, french, pronunciation, ɡʁɑ, norman, graunville, commune, manche, department, region, normandy, northwestern, france, chef, lieu, canton, granville, seat, communauté, communes, granville, terre, seaside, resort, health, resort, mon. Granville French pronunciation ɡʁɑ vil Norman Graunville is a commune in the Manche department and region of Normandy northwestern France 3 The chef lieu of the canton of Granville and seat of the Communaute de communes de Granville Terre et Mer fr it is a seaside resort and health resort of Mont Saint Michel Bay at the end of the Cote des Havres fr a former cod fishing port and the first shellfish port of France It is sometimes nicknamed Monaco of the North by virtue of its location on a rocky promontory GranvilleCommuneThe harbour of Granville with Notre Dame church in the backgroundCoat of armsLocation of GranvilleGranvilleShow map of FranceGranvilleShow map of NormandyCoordinates 48 50 15 N 1 35 38 W 48 837401 N 1 593931 W 48 837401 1 593931CountryFranceRegionNormandyDepartmentMancheArrondissementAvranchesCantonGranvilleIntercommunalityGranville Terre et MerGovernment Mayor 2020 2026 Gilles Menard 1 Area19 9 km2 3 8 sq mi Population 2021 2 12 581 Density1 300 km2 3 300 sq mi Time zoneUTC 01 00 CET Summer DST UTC 02 00 CEST INSEE Postal code50218 50400Elevation0 67 m 0 220 ft avg 37 m or 121 ft 1 French Land Register data which excludes lakes ponds glaciers gt 1 km2 0 386 sq mi or 247 acres and river estuaries The town was founded by a vassal of William the Conqueror on land occupied by the Vikings in the 11th century The old privateer city and fortification for the defence of Mont Saint Michel became a seaside resort in the 19th century which was frequented by many artists and equipped with a golf course and a horse racing course Home of the Dior family fr of industrialists an important commune that absorbed the village of Saint Nicolas pres Granville in 1962 port and airport of South Manche it has also been a Douzelage city since 1991 twinned with 20 European cities Administratively the islands of Chausey the French Channel Islands which include a small harbour are part of the commune of Granville Contents 1 Geography 1 1 Location 1 2 Hydrography 1 3 Relief 1 4 Neighbouring communes 1 5 Climate 1 6 Transport 1 7 Quarters and localities 2 Toponymy 3 History 3 1 Origins 3 2 Early modern era 3 3 World War II 3 4 Contemporary history 4 Demography 4 1 Demographic evolution 4 2 Age structure 5 Politics and administration 5 1 Local politics 5 2 List of mayors 5 3 Political trends and results 5 4 Education 5 5 Health 5 6 Public services 5 7 Twin towns Sister cities 6 Daily life in Granville 6 1 Culture 6 2 Sport 6 3 Religion 6 4 Media 7 Economy 7 1 Port of Granville 7 2 Granville Mont Saint Michel Airport 7 3 Tourism 8 Local culture and heritage 8 1 Environmental heritage 8 2 Architectural heritage 8 3 Festivities 8 4 Personalities linked to the commune 8 4 1 Born in Granville 8 4 2 Died in Granville 8 4 3 Others 8 5 Heraldry 8 6 Gastronomy 8 7 Granville dialect 8 8 Granville in the arts and culture 8 9 Myths and legends 9 Gallery 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 External linksGeography editLocation edit Granville is located at the edge of the English Channel at the extremity of the natural region fr of the Cotentin It defines the north of the Bay of Mont Saint Michel and the south of the Cote des Havres fr The upper town is located on a peninsula surrounded by schist cliffs known as Pointe du Roc or Cap Lihou The rest of the town extends eastward inland bounded on the north by the Boscq fr a short coastal river and on the south by alternating cliffs and beaches up to the Saigue stream The commune has four sand beaches one to the north between the peninsula and the river three to the south on the bay It occupies 990 acres 400 ha 4 of mostly urbanised territory but this urbanisation is now limited by the Natura 2000 European directive and the law of preservation of the coastline fr The town is part of the association fr of Les Plus Beaux Detours de France fr The National Institute of Geographic Information and Forestry gives the co ordinates as 48 50 17 N 1 35 13 W 48 83806 N 1 58694 W 48 83806 1 58694 4 It is at the centre of the Urban Area of Granville fr Closing in the north of the Bay of Mont Saint Michel and its foreshore of a very gentle gradient it enjoys the highest tides in Europe up to 14 m 46 ft of tidal range This situation also sometimes leads to significant changes of the coastal features of the nearby beaches 5 Off the coast the archipelago of the Chausey Islands is administered by the commune of Granville It is one of the only island quarters of France It consists of 52 islands of granite at high tide and more than 365 at low tide covering almost 5 000 ha 12 000 acres Granville is located 17 km 11 mi southwest of its insular district of Chausey 288 km 179 mi to the west of Notre Dame in Paris point zero of the roads of France fr 40 km 25 mi southwest of Saint Lo 24 km 15 mi northwest of Avranches 27 km 17 mi southwest of Coutances 90 km 56 mi to the south of Cherbourg Octeville 23 km 14 mi north of Mont Saint Michel 26 km 16 mi northeast of Cancale and 99 km 62 mi to the southwest of Caen It is also located 5 356 km 3 328 mi from Granville in the State of New York 6 053 km 3 761 mi from Granville West Virginia and 6 196 km 3 850 mi from Granville Ohio among others Hydrography edit Granville has natural limits materialised by the Boscq fr river to the north and the Saigue stream in the south For a few years an artificial river pierced between the mainland and the peninsula It was filled and is now replaced by Place du Marechal Foch Relief edit The commune is largely at sea level It rises only towards the interior a little more on the peninsula from the Pointe du Roc to reach 67 m 220 ft 4 Neighbouring communes edit Granville located on the Pointe du Roc is washed to the north south and to the west by the English Channel To the northeast lies the commune of Donville les Bains the village of Yquelon is to the east and to the southeast are the small seaside resort of Saint Pair sur Mer and the village of Saint Planchers The island quarter of Chausey is located off to the northwest and Mont Saint Michel is to the south Climate edit Granville is located on the English Channel coast it is therefore subject to an oceanic climate However its positioning on the Bay of the Mont Saint Michel at the bottom of the gulf formed by Normandy and Brittany allows it to be relatively protected from storms and wind even though it may be exposed to the Suroit fr and enjoy mild temperatures Annual average temperature stood at 11 4 C 52 5 F with a maximum of 14 2 C 57 6 F and a minimum of 8 6 C 47 5 F The maximum nominal temperatures of 21 C 70 F in July August and 3 C 37 F in January February show the mildness of the climate and the lack of thermal amplitude The insolation values given here are those of the station of Caen due to the lack of local data Contrary to a common misconception 606 mm 23 9 in of total precipitation shows that Normandy is not a wetter region than others The record of rainfall per 24 hour period was established during a storm on 11 July 1977 with 57 2 mm 2 25 in of water In the 1987 storm wind speeds reached a high of 220 km h 140 mph 120 kn which is the current absolute record for the city Climate data for Granville 1961 1990 Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Mean daily maximum C F 8 8 47 8 9 3 48 7 11 9 53 4 13 7 56 7 17 0 62 6 19 8 67 6 21 9 71 4 22 0 71 6 20 0 68 0 16 3 61 3 12 0 53 6 9 2 48 6 15 2 59 4 Mean daily minimum C F 3 4 38 1 3 1 37 6 4 8 40 6 5 9 42 6 9 0 48 2 11 5 52 7 13 5 56 3 13 6 56 5 11 7 53 1 9 4 48 9 6 1 43 0 3 7 38 7 8 0 46 4 Average precipitation mm inches 57 0 2 24 53 2 2 09 49 9 1 96 39 7 1 56 50 5 1 99 40 8 1 61 36 8 1 45 36 3 1 43 50 8 2 00 59 0 2 32 68 5 2 70 64 3 2 53 606 8 23 89 Average precipitation days 1 0 mm 12 7 10 7 11 0 9 2 9 7 7 4 6 1 6 4 8 7 10 5 13 3 12 8 118 5 Average snowy days 1 3 2 1 0 6 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 8 5 3 Average relative humidity 87 84 82 80 79 80 79 78 79 82 84 86 81 7 Mean monthly sunshine hours 69 5 84 3 127 5 164 1 188 4 206 4 206 4 198 6 167 1 112 6 77 8 64 0 1 666 6 Source 1 Meteofrance com Temperatures sunshine hours Source 2 Infoclimat fr Transport edit nbsp Granville railway station Several highways serve the commune including the downgraded roads RN 171 fr now the RD 971 from Carentan RN 24BIS fr now the RD 924 towards Villedieu les Poeles and RN 173 fr now the RD 973 from Avranches Granville is located 25 km 16 mi from the A84 E401 It is also crossed from north to south by the old RN 811 fr today the RD 911 the road to the coast at Avranches nbsp The Granville Paris Express which overran the buffer stop at its Gare Montparnasse terminus on 22 October 1895 The Paris Granville line fr departing from Paris Montparnasse railway station has its terminus at Granville station it is used by TER Normandie long and medium distance services Several bus routes connect Granville with a network set up by the General Council of Manche Maneo fr with routes 2 3 7 116 122 202 300 302 and 305 and the Neva network since December 2014 created and operated in house by the town of Granville The Granville Mont Saint Michel Airport fr allows landings of private aircraft and the Caen Carpiquet Airport ensures the interregional links By sea the port of Granville serves the Chausey Islands and the Channel Islands 44 100 passengers and hosts freight activities 197 000 tonnes An urban transport network is planned for 2014 and should cross the whole community of communes fr 6 Quarters and localities edit The commune is divided into several quarters the Haute Ville the historic heart behind the ramparts Couraye La Tranchee which occupies the former site of an arm of the sea dug by man Le Calvaire Le Centre the current town centre and Saint Nicolas which corresponds to the former commune of Saint Nicolas pres Granville joined in 1962 The quarter of the Agora has been classified priority in the title under the policy of the commune 7 Toponymy edit nbsp Map of Roman Gaul established in the 18th century Grannonũ read Grannonum appears above the territory of the Abrincatui The name of the city is mentioned in the forms of Grandivilla in 1054 8 Grande Villa in 1056 8 Grandvilla in 1172 8 and Granville in 1175 8 All modern toponymists agree on the origin of the Gran element Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing have classed Granville with the toponyms of the Grandvelle Grandville type whose first term is explained just by the Old French grant grand 9 Francois de Beaurepaire followed suit 10 as well as Ernest Negre 11 and Rene Lepelley fr 12 According to Edouard Le Hericher Avranchin monumental and historic the origin of the toponym is explained by a character named Grant who received the fief of Rollo of Normandy during the conquest of Neustria citation needed If experts agree all that it is a medieval formation of ville the exact meaning to give this suffix varies between village hamlet Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing Francois de Beaurepaire Ernest Negre and domain Rene Lepelley which should probably be in the sense of rural area initially it had the value of the Gallo Roman VILLA Some historians and geographers of the past have attempted to connect Granville to the Grannonum Grannona toponym attested in the Notitia Dignitatum on the Saxon Shore from the late Roman Empire tribunus cohortis primae Armoricanae Grannona novae in litore Saxonico This explains why some 18th century maps describing the former Roman Gaul revealed the name of Grannonum at the location of Granville see map opposite This hypothesis is now abandoned by contemporary practitioners During the Revolution the town temporarily took the name of Granville la Victoire after the siege of the Vendeens she had victoriously endured in 1793 the name was then formalised without this complementary addition 13 According to the standard Norman spelling developed in the second half of the 20th century the name of the town is written as Graunville French pronunciation ɡʁɑɔ vil Cap Lihou is named from the Old Norse word holm meaning island islet and which has in some cases evolved as hou as the endpoint History editOrigins edit nbsp Granville on the Cassini map nbsp Granville in 1846 According to a legend concerning the Mont Saint Michel Bay Granville and the insular quarter of Chausey were covered in the Forest of Scissy fr sunken in 709 14 Granville in the heart of the land would then become like Dinard and Saint Malo a coastal town known as Roque de Lihou In 1066 William the Conqueror in his conquest of England sought the help of the Grant family As a token of recognition he awarded the lands of Roque de Lihou The Grants are therefore the first Lords of the town after the Vikings 15 In 1143 the parish of Notre Dame was created It is probable that monks from Mont Saint Michel went to the Priory on Lihou during the first half of the 12th century In 1252 in the absence of a male descendant Jeanne de Granville married Raoul d Argouges Lord of Gratot In 1424 the criminal case of Pierre Le Macon took place in Granville which was then judged by the chancery of Henry VI of England in February 1425 in Paris 16 In 1439 the construction of the Notre Dame du Cap Lihou Church fr began On 26 October 1439 Sir Thomas de Scales Seneschal of Normandy and English officer of the Hundred Years War bought the Roque of Jean d Argouges On order of King Henry VI of England in order to isolate Mont Saint Michel the last French bridgehead into Norman territory he had the walls of Granville built In 1440 the construction of the fortress began To further protect this city Lord Thomas de Scales had a ditch dug between the peninsula and the mainland so that the sea and the waters of the Boscq made the peninsula an island However on 8 November 1442 by ruse Louis d Estouteville fr took over the castle since which has remained permanently in the hands of the French Charles VII decided to make Granville a fortified town and signed a charter in 1445 granting arms and exempting the residents of tax From 1450 ships were fishing at Newfoundland In 1470 Louis XI visited the town to ensure its loyalty in the conflict opposing the Bretons and Burgundians In 1492 the Jews of Spain expelled by the Alhambra Decree arrived in France A community settled in Granville their right to trade and to lend money allowed the town to arm a large fleet Early modern era edit nbsp The burning of Granville by the Vendeens painting by Jean Francois Hue nbsp The port of Granville at the start of the 19th century In 1562 the restoration of the ramparts began and a garrison moved into the barracks Then in 1593 the keys to the city were presented to Henry IV marking the importance of the town to the Kingdom Under Louis XIII the fortifications were adapted for artillery From the reign of Louis XIV Granville ships also had the right to capture Therefore between seventy and eighty ships were armed and Granville gave fifteen admirals to France of which the best known is Georges Rene Le Peley de Pleville In 1688 Louvois razed part of the defences of the town Louis XIV appointed the first mayor of Granville in 1692 Luc Leboucher de Gastagny However in 1695 during the Nine Years War the English bombarded the city destroying 27 houses Vauban then studied possible improvements to the stronghold without having the time to carry them out Following the attack the ramparts were raised and increased in 1720 Then from 1749 development work and expansion of the port was undertaken with in 1750 the laying of the breakwater ever present today This work was completed in 1757 in the meantime a new barracks was built In 1763 a fire swept through the faubourgs In 1777 a new barracks was added the Genes barracks still present today On 20 July 1786 a new fire broke out this time in the Tranchee quarter at the gates of the citadel On 14 November 1793 or 24 brumaire year II was the Siege of Granville by the Vendeens during the Viree de Galerne A force of some 25 000 Vendeen troops followed by thousands of civilians of all ages commanded by Henri de la Rochejaquelein headed for the port of Granville where they expected to be greeted by a British fleet and an army of exiled French nobles Arriving at Granville they found the walled city surrounded by Republican forces with no British ships in sight Their attempts to take the city were unsuccessful During the retreat the extended columns fell prey to Republican forces Repulsed by the population having lost two thousand men they had to abandon the assault but left by burning the Rue des Juifs On 14 September 1803 the English again bombarded the town after imposing a blockade of the coast nbsp La Plage The Beach by Eugene Isabey 1863 nbsp The beach of the Plat Gousset at the start of the 20th century nbsp The railways of Manche circulated trains on the Granville Sourdeval line and the Conde sur Vire Granville line from 1908 1909 to 1936 From 1815 after years of military conflict in full Restoration Granville seemed to take a new direction The chamber of commerce and industry was created in 1816 the shores of the Boscq baptised Cours Jonville in 1823 the breakwater was joined to the land and in 1827 the first stone of the Roc Lighthouse was laid Granville once formed part of the diocese of Coutances the Parliament of Rouen and the intendance of Caen Before the French Revolution the town had two parishes The Church of Notre Dame du Cap Lihou and Saint Nicolas This parish was an appendix of Notre Dame until Saint Nicolas was set up in 1829 whose territory is regarded as a commune independent of Granville The port obtained its current appearance after 1856 and the inauguration of the wet dock and the lock In 1860 the first wooden casino built by former Mayor Mequin was inaugurated In 1865 it was followed by the hospice of St Peter In 1866 Victor Chesnais composed a hymn for his town La Granvillaise adapted in 1868 at the theatre In 1867 the town acquired its first oared lifeboat the Saint Thomas et Saint Joseph de Saint Faron In 1869 the newspaper Le Granvillais was created and in 1870 the Paris Granville line fr and railway station were opened on 3 July The town really became a seaside resort welcoming Parisians and guests such as Stendhal Jules Michelet and Victor Hugo and the parents of Maurice Denis who was born accidentally in Granville From 1875 major construction resumed with the construction of a reservoir of 1 200 m3 42 000 cu ft Polotsk and Solferino barracks and of the auction market hall The town continued to equip itself with the opening in 1884 of the municipal library in 1886 the school group of St Paul in 1887 the dry dock and in 1897 a corps of firefighters To entertain holidaymakers the Granvillaises Regatta Society was founded in 1889 the horse racing course and the Societe des Courses of Granville in 1890 and the golf course in 1912 The Montparnasse derailment was on 22 October 1895 when the Granville Paris express train overran the buffers at Paris Montparnasse station Finally in 1898 the St Paul Church was inaugurated The 20th century began with the burning of the Chateau de la Crete in 1900 In 1905 fashion designer Christian Dior was born in Granville his childhood home is now a museum 17 In 1908 the town was endowed with a visitor centre It also became a centre of communication with the opening in 1908 of the railway line and tramway of Granville to Sourdeval passing through Avranches and one towards Conde sur Vire in 1910 In 1911 the new casino was opened with the maternity hospital and the savings bank by minister Jules Pams In 1912 electricity was installed in the commune and the Normandy Hotel was inaugurated 1914 was a dark year for Granville with the loss of four sailors in the lifeboat accident of the Admiral Amedee Roze and departure for the war of the soldiers of the 2nd fr and 202nd infantry regiment fr After the war the regatta resumed in 1919 the carnival in 1920 and a son of the area Lucien Dior fr became Minister of Commerce in the seventh government of Aristide Briand and came to visit the town in 1921 In 1925 a new railway station was inaugurated Granville became a health resort and the Hotel des Bains opened in 1926 In 1931 the last fishing vessel returned from Newfoundland World War II edit nbsp The page of the newspaper Le Granvillais of 21 September 1940 on which appears the article signed Camille denouncing the racist laws of the Vichy government A garrison and coastal town closing the Bay of Mont Saint Michel Granville has always been coveted during armed conflicts in the area During the Second World War on 17 June 1940 the Germans entered Granville On 21 September 1941 an article appeared in Le Granvillais signed by the name of Camille where the author was alerting readers to the dangers and lack of basis for the next laws on the status of Jews of the Vichy regime Despite this mark of resistance eight Granville Jews were deported to Auschwitz Leon Bobulesco and his two sons Armand and Rodolphe Simon Goldenberg his wife Minka and their children Henri and Ruben as well as Smil Weesler Three Communists suffered the same fate Leon Lamort Rene Loncle and Charles Passot The whole of the population underwent the constraints of the Occupation From the beginning the Germans built fortifications on the Pointe du Roc and forbade access to the port On 20 May 1942 a new municipal council was installed by the prefect On 1 April 1943 all of the Haute Ville had to be evacuated barriers and anti tank roadblocks prevented access The Normandy Hotel was transformed into a kommandantur and a branch of the Gestapo A signature name of this period was Maurice Marland Born on 12 February 1888 in Falaise and a teacher of English French and civics he led a resistance network Notable in the town in 1939 he organised the reception of Belgian refugees and the evacuation of British soldiers Later with Jules Leprince they put escape routes to Jersey in place Throughout the occupation his relations enabled him to mount a clandestine intelligence network on port and rail facilities and enemy operations in the Channel Islands Arrested and then released in 1941 and 1943 he nonetheless continued until 22 July 1944 when he was arrested and shot in the forest of Lucerne at the request of collaborators On 23 July 1994 his son Serge Marland filed a complaint for crimes against humanity the investigation concluded that he was assassinated by German soldiers Today the secondary school of the commune bears his name 18 On 6 June 1944 the Green Plan of sabotage of railway lines was implemented to cut the Paris Granville line fr Liberated without fighting on 31 July 1944 it saw the troops of General Patton pass for two days who went down to the town centre by the Coutances road and up the Rue Couraye to get out by the Avranches road The vibration caused by the passage of armoured cars for two days brought down the facade nameplates of several houses Granville was reoccupied for a few hours during the Granville Raid of 9 March 1945 by German soldiers who had landed from Jersey On 9 March 1945 while France was liberated and Allied troops 800 km 500 mi away had begun to cross the Rhine German troops based in still occupied Jersey launched a daring commando raid against Granville Although spotted by the radar of Coutainville the Germans aboard light boats managed to land at night in the port of Granville They dynamited port facilities and sank four freighters Fifteen U S eight British and six French soldiers were killed seventy German prisoners were released and five Americans and four British were captured before the German commando unit took flight 19 Contemporary history edit During the Algerian War the barracks housed the 3rd Demi brigade and then the 21st Battalion of chasseurs on foot from 1956 to 1961 It was a training centre for thousands of contingent recruits before leaving for Kabylie or the region of Tiaret The commune hosted the finish of stage 1 and the start of stage 2 of the 1957 Tour de France In 1962 the town of Granville absorbed the commune of Saint Nicolas pres Granville the latter during the revolutionary period of the National Convention 1792 1795 bore the name Champ Libre Free Field 20 On 4 June 1965 Granville welcomed Prime Minister Georges Pompidou 21 In 1970 the Regional Nautical Centre moved to Granville and in 1975 the port was completed with a marina In 1972 the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Granville founded in 1815 took the name CCI Granville Saint Lo and which then became the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Central and South Manche fr in 2000 In 1973 Heudebert fr opened a factory for the production of biscottes in business ever since In the 1980s donations by Richard Anacreon allowed the opening of the Museum of modern art many buildings in the town were classified or registered as historical monuments In 1982 the town was endowed of a new hospital In 1984 the military regiments left the barracks allowing redevelopment of the Pointe du Roc In 1991 the Christian Dior Museum fr opened and the Charter of the Douzelage was signed At the turn of the millennium the business incubator emerged In 2003 the A84 autoroute joined Granville with other agglomerations Demography editDemographic evolution edit The inhabitants of the commune are called Granvillais in French 22 Of 6 649 people at the beginning of the census of the people in 1793 the commune reached a demographic peak in 1861 with 17 180 inhabitants prior to be severely affected by the War of 1870 by losing nearly 1 000 of its children Then began a slow decline accentuated by the World War I no longer accommodating more than 10 132 inhabitants in 1946 The second half of the 20th century with the absorption of Saint Nicolas pres Granville in 1962 the rural exodus and the construction of many estates on the outskirts allowed the commune to gain residents again to achieve 13 022 inhabitants in 2006 That same year only 0 5 of the Granville population was foreign with the presence small Portuguese Spanish and Moroccan communities each representing 0 1 of the population 23 far from the regional average of 8 8 and 16 9 of households consisted of single parent families ten points under this same regional average 24 Historical populationYearPop p a 17936 649 18005 454 2 79 18067 834 6 22 18217 030 0 72 18317 350 0 45 18367 581 0 62 18418 347 1 94 184612 191 7 87 185111 035 1 97 185613 568 4 22 186117 180 4 83 186615 622 1 88 YearPop p a 187214 747 0 96 187612 527 4 00 188111 040 2 50 188611 620 1 03 189112 721 1 83 189612 005 1 15 190111 667 0 57 190611 940 0 46 191111 347 1 01 19219 489 1 77 192610 497 2 04 193110 229 0 52 YearPop p a 193610 329 0 19 194610 132 0 19 195410 368 0 29 19629 827 0 67 196812 715 4 39 197513 330 0 68 198213 546 0 23 199012 413 1 09 199912 687 0 24 200713 100 0 40 201213 021 0 12 201712 580 0 69 Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki org From 1962 to 1999 Population without double counting for the years following municipal population Source Ldh EHESS Cassini until 1999 13 and INSEE 1968 2017 25 Age structure edit As reflected in the age structure Granville is an exemplary commune in terms of the age distribution of its inhabitants each category representing around 15 to 20 of the population Only the centenarians are poorly represented as on the whole of the territory However a lower rate of children under 15 years in 2006 reflected an ageing of Granville families and a possible future demographic deficit That same year only 25 9 of the population was less than 25 years old 24 Population by age of Granville 2012 90 2 05 75 89 14 9 60 74 21 3 45 59 18 45 30 44 14 35 15 29 16 25 0 14 12 7 Total 100 male female Source INSEE 26 Population by age of Manche 2012 90 1 05 75 89 10 6 60 74 16 55 45 59 21 1 30 44 17 7 15 29 15 45 0 14 17 55 Total 100 male female Source INSEE 27 Politics and administration editLocal politics edit Granville is the chef lieu of the canton represented by the centre right departmental councillor fr Jean Marc Julienne The commune is linked to Manche s 2nd constituency represented by deputy Guenhael Huet UMP Thirty three elected officials sit on the municipal council divided into twenty four members of the municipal majority from a list of independents a group of five councillors of a UDI list three elected leftists including former PRG mayor Daniel Caruhel and an elected frontist 28 29 The board is chaired by a woman Dominique Baudry assisted by nine adjoints 29 Granville is attached to courts of first instance and the superior court of Avranches the courts and tribunals of commerce and Council of Tribunals of Coutances the Court of Appeal of Caen fr In 2008 the town had a budget of 30 041 million of which 22 08 million for operations and 7 961 000 investment 30 38 39 funded by local taxes fr municipal debt was 15 318 000 the same year 31 The tax rate in 2008 amounted to 13 12 for the housing tax 22 06 and 47 53 for property tax built and unbuilt and 14 30 for business tax set by the community of communes fr 32 Two young workers homes fr have settled in the town an HLM management company manages 1563 homes in the town a social action community centre fr provides aid to people in need The town adheres to the Community of communes of Granville land and sea fr for land use economic development and housing upgrading of the environment and the organisation of relief It also directs the SMBCG Joint Association of Granville coastal areas for the protection of coastal waters against microbiological risk 33 List of mayors edit Sixty eight mayors have headed the municipal administration of Granville since the election of the first mayor in 1692 List of mayors of Granville 1945 present 34 Start End Name Party Other details 1945 1947 Jules Desmonts PRRRS Honorary director of the Ferdinand Buisson College 1947 1959 Roger Maris RPF then moderate Retired colonial administrator 1959 1961 Marius Beaumois PRRRS Retired receiver collector 1961 1977 Henri Baudouin UNR then FNRI Commercial court registered lawyer 1977 1983 Remy Derubay PS Mathematics lecturer 1983 1989 Henri Baudouin UDF Commercial court registered lawyer 1989 1990 Jean Claude Lecossais RPR Surgeon 1990 1994 Bernard Beck fr UDF Honorary magistrate first President of the Court of Auditors from 1978 to 1982 1994 2008 Marc Verdier RPR UMP Retired banker 2008 2014 Daniel Caruhel PRG Landscape gardener April 2014 29 Present Dominique Baudry Independent Business manager List of mayors of Granville 1692 1945 34 Start End Name Party Other details 1692 1706 Luc Leboucher de Gastigny Lord of Gastigny 1706 1749 M Gallien de Preval Lord of Preval 1749 1756 Pigeon de Saint Pair 1756 1758 M Le Marie Lord of Les Fontaines 1758 1759 Jacques Louis Picquelin 1759 1759 M Poisson de Jublain 1759 1761 M Hugon Lord of La Noe 1761 1762 M Ganne de Grandmaison Lord of Grandmaison 1762 1762 M Hugon Dupuis 1762 1765 Rene Perree Grandpiece Lord of Grandpiece and Le Hamel 1765 1768 Michel Clement 1768 1771 M Le Boucher Lord of Vallesfleurs 1771 1771 Jacques Picquelin 1771 1776 M Le Boucher Lord of Vallesfleurs 1776 1778 M Ganne de Grandmaison Lord of Grandmaison 1778 1783 Nicolas Yset 1783 1787 Pierre Nicolas Perree fr Legal negotiator and shipowner 1787 1790 M Couraye Duparc 1790 1791 Denis Francois Le Mengnonnet 1791 1795 M Hugon Lacour 1795 1795 Denis Francois Le Mengnonnet 1795 1795 M Longueville Beaufongeray 1795 1796 Antoine Gaspard Gautier 1796 1797 Girard Laporte 1797 1797 M Deslandes 1797 1799 M Le Pelley Fonteny 1799 1800 Pierre Mequin 1800 1805 Francois Thomas Le Tourneur Former vessel lieutenant shipowner 1805 1816 M Mequin Jonville 1816 1830 Pierre Francois Le Mengnonnet 1830 1834 Hippolyte Abraham Dubois fr Notary general councillor and deputy 1834 1841 Francois Vallee 1841 1848 Jacques Edmond Le Campion 1848 1854 Antoine Boniface 1854 1861 Jacques Edmond Le Campion 1861 1870 Charles Leclere Bonapartist Shipowner 1870 1871 Charles Malicorne 1871 1874 Arthur Le Mengnonnet Shipowner 1874 1879 Joseph Beust 1879 1881 Godefroy Aubert 1881 1882 Arthur Le Prince 1882 1882 Godefroy Aubert 1882 1888 Emile Riotteau fr Republican Shipowner 1888 1890 Francois le Biez 1890 1892 Lucien Dior Industrialist 1892 1902 Alexandre Bureau 1902 1904 Georges Beust 1904 1908 Auguste Require 1908 1911 M Letourneur Physician 1911 1919 Jean Pergeaux 1919 1923 Jacques de Boutray 1923 1925 Augustin Ruffle 1925 1929 Albert Godal 1929 1929 Augustin Ruffle 1932 1945 Albert Godal 1945 1945 Jules Desmonts PRRS Honorary director of the Ferdinand Buisson College 1945 1945 M Lavat Physician Political trends and results edit Main article 2014 municipal elections in Manche In the context of the elections the population of Granville shows a relatively conservative tendency and votes as regularly as the entire national population thus following the vague rose pink wave in the regional elections of 2004 but instead voting by a large majority for the European Constitutional Treaty An opposition group published a journal Le Sans culotte de Granville and Coutances District committees are located in the commune to enliven the local debate In 2008 the list led by the outgoing general counsel of the Miscellaneous left Daniel Caruhel ex socialist but supported by outgoing UMP mayor Marc Verdier and housing nine members of the Miscellaneous right outgoing majority won the municipal election against the official candidate of the Socialist Party The canton returned to Jean Marc Julienne assistant Marc Verdier and running mate Daniel Caruhel belonging to the New Centre but elected as independent Thus contrary to what the labels might suggest Granville voters had once again made the choice of conservatism Presidential elections results of the second round Presidential election 2002 86 65 for Jacques Chirac RPR 13 35 for Jean Marie Le Pen FN 75 32 turnout 35 Presidential election 2007 52 42 for Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 47 58 for Segolene Royal PS 82 27 turnout 36 Presidential election 2012 52 22 for Francois Hollande PS 47 78 for Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 78 97 turnout 37 Parliamentary elections results of the second round Parliamentary election 2002 54 24 for Alain Cousin UMP 45 76 for Daniele Jordan Menninger PS 55 17 turnout 38 Parliamentary election 2007 54 48 for Alain Cousin UMP 45 52 for Daniele Jordan Menninger PS 55 09 turnout 39 Parliamentary election 2012 50 19 for Guenhael Huet UMP 49 81 for Gerard Saure PRG 55 29 turnout 40 European elections results from the two best scores European Parliament election 2004 31 92 for Henri Weber PS 19 08 for Tokia Saifi UMP 43 76 turnout 41 European Parliament election 2009 31 12 for Dominique Riquet UMP 17 72 for Helene Flautre Europe Ecology 41 13 turnout 42 Regional elections results from the two best scores Regional election 2004 50 42 for Philippe Duron PS 38 27 for Rene Garrec UMP 60 39 turnout 43 Regional election 2010 56 31 for Laurent Beauvais PS 43 69 for Jean Francois Le Grand UMP 50 70 turnout 44 Cantonal elections results of the second round Cantonal elections 2001 missing data Cantonal elections 2008 53 63 for Jean Marc Julienne NC 25 64 to Francois Heurguier PS 61 92 turnout 45 Municipal elections results of the second round Municipal elections 2001 51 53 for Marc Verdier RPR elected in the first round 48 47 for Jean Leguelinel PS 53 98 turnout 46 Municipal elections 2008 49 48 for Daniel care DVG 28 59 for Andre June DVG 62 46 turnout 47 Referendum elections Referendum of 2000 relating to the five year presidential term 73 39 for Yes 26 61 for No 31 83 turnout 48 Referendum of 2005 on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe 51 42 for Yes 48 58 for No 66 22 turnout 49 Education edit The commune was attached to the Academy of Caen fr Four public kindergartens and primary schools fr welcome pupils of the commune The Group of Docteur Lanos the Jean Mace Group the Jules Ferry Group and the Pierre and Marie Curie Group The commune also has the Andre Malraux College of general education and SEGPA fr The town has two high schools Lycee Leon Julliot de la Morandiere for general technological and professional fr education and the Maurice Marland hotelier s school Added to these establishments is the Sevigne Institution 50 a private school fr with boarding school from kindergarten to high school and the Notre Dame and St Paul schools for kindergarten and elementary education The commune is one of the seats of the CCI of Centre and South Manche fr it hosts a GRETA fr the group of Formation Inter consulaires de la Manche Inter consular training of Manche FIM an Institute of Nursing and the Family and Rural House providing agricultural and commercial training Finally the commune has a leisure centre for the reception of children out of school periods a family creche and a multi host centre for young children Educational establishments in Granville nbsp The Andre Malraux College in the former Bazeilles barracks nbsp The Sevigne Institution Health edit Main article Hospital Centre of Avranches Granville The commune has on its territory in association with Avranches a hospital centre fr with a capacity of 742 beds offering services of general medicine surgery gynaecology and obstetrics cardiology and SMUR 51 The centre is also equipped with a scanner In 2007 a ministerial decision endorsed the closure of the maternity of the communal hospital 52 carrying 410 deliveries per year 53 The commune also hosts on its territory a centre of re education and rehabilitation a centre of thalassotherapy three Residential homes for elderly dependents two health centres 91 doctors 54 eight dentists 55 and seven pharmacists 56 Several medical or social associations are located on the commune such as the Union of the Speech Therapists of Manche the SNSM the Rotary Club the Red Cross and the Secours Populaire Public services edit Granville welcomes the CCI of Centre and South Manche fr a CAF fr a subdivision of the DDE fr a centre of social security a tax office and treasury a gendarmerie barracks a police station a relief and fire centre a customs office a post office in the town centre 57 and one in the quarter of Saint Nicolas 58 agencies of ASSEDIC ANPE and AFPA fr an auction house and three notarial offices two lawyers offices 59 attached to the bar of Avranches and a bailiff s office 60 The civil security has a base for monitoring the English Channel equipped with a Eurocopter EC145 61 Twin towns Sister cities edit See also List of twin towns and sister cities in France Granville has been twinned with Riviere du Loup Quebec at a distance of 4 859 km 3 019 mi since 1984 Granville is a founding member of the Douzelage a unique town twinning association of 24 towns across the European Union This active town twinning began in 1991 and there are regular events such as a produce market from each of the other countries and festivals 62 63 64 Henry Haffray initiator and founder of the douzelage was the first president of the Granville partenaire europeen Granville European partner association he was followed for more than a dozen years by Jean Marc Julienne then Andre Gendre and Pascale Vallee citation needed Members of the Douzelage nbsp Altea Spain 1991 nbsp Bad Kotzting Germany 1991 nbsp Bellagio Italy 1991 nbsp Bundoran Ireland 1991 nbsp Holstebro Denmark 1991 nbsp Houffalize Belgium 1991 nbsp Meerssen the Netherlands 1991 nbsp Niederanven Luxembourg 1991 nbsp Preveza Greece 1991 nbsp Sesimbra Portugal 1991 nbsp Sherborne United Kingdom 1991 65 nbsp Karkkila Finland 1997 nbsp Oxelosund Sweden 1998 nbsp Judenburg Austria 1999 nbsp Chojna Poland 2004 nbsp Koszeg Hungary 2004 nbsp Sigulda Latvia 2004 nbsp Susice Czech Republic 2004 nbsp Turi Estonia 2004 nbsp Zvolen Slovakia 2007 nbsp Prienai Lithuania 2008 nbsp Marsaskala Malta 2009 nbsp Siret Romania 2010 nbsp Agros Cyprus 2011 nbsp Skofja Loka Slovenia 2011 nbsp Tryavna Bulgaria 2011Daily life in Granville editCulture edit The commune has much cultural infrastructure including three museums The Christian Dior Museum fr and its garden located in the childhood home of the fashion designer which allows one to discover the artistic and cultural context of the time of Christian Dior on the history of fashion the Museum of the Old Granville fr located in the home of the King who provides an overview of the history of the city and the Richard Anacreon Modern Art Museum fr It also hosts an aquarium located on the Pointe du Roc which shows many species of warm water marine fish and three exhibition spaces The Feerie des Coquillages Enchantment of the Shells the Palais Mineral Mineral Palace and the Jardin des Papillons Butterfly Garden For cultural recreation the Charles de la Morandiere media library in the town centre the Room of the Archipelago a multipurpose room of 600 seats and a 400 seat open air theatre has been open since 2006 the small Theatre of the Peninsula with a capacity of 65 seats the newly renovated Le Select cinema offers three rooms a music school and a digital public space fr animate the life of the commune Sixty four associations fr relay and encourage communal cultural life Sport edit Granville is equipped with numerous sporting facilities allowing the practice of numerous activities the Cite des sports equipped with two football pitches two rugby pitches two basketball courts an asphalt athletics track a boulodrome fr a skatepark a BMX track four judo and gymnastics halls the Louis Dior Stadium equipped with a football field of honour of two other fields and a cinder athletics track the Andre Malraux and Pierre de Coubertin indoor gyms a covered swimming pool ten clay and GreenSet covered tennis courts a sea rowing club the Regional Sailing Centre a 27 hole golf course built in 1912 on the seafront the equestrian club and the racecourse of trot and gallop with flat and obstacles opened in 1890 and located in the communes of Breville sur Mer and Donville les Bains clay pigeon shooting the regional parachuting school and two independent schools the flying club and ultralight flying school nbsp The bisquine La Granvillaise A municipal sports school and a municipal swimming school provide training for members Sixty two associations ensure the relay of communal services In road cycling Granville was a stage town of the 1957 Tour de France and the Tour de la Manche fr ends each year at Granville The commune hosted the start of the third stage of the 2016 Tour de France 66 In sailing Granville is a stage town each year of the Tour de France a la voile In August are organized A swimming tour of the Roc the Chausey regatta the Course des Bisquines fr where La Granvillaise and La Cancalaise confront each other the raid of catamaran in the Bay of Mont Saint Michel The Union Sportive Granvillaise has developed two football teams in the League of Lower Normandy fr and a third team in the district division 67 Granville has also developed its first men s handball team in National 3 Sports facilities of Granville nbsp The municipal swimming pool nbsp Entrance of the Louis Dior Stadium nbsp A general view of the racecourse Religion edit The Catholic churches of Granville are Notre Dame du Cap Lihou fr Saint Paul and Saint Nicolas They depend on the parish of St Clement of the Deanery of the Lands of Granville Villedieu in the Diocese of Coutances and Avranches The bishop of this diocese is Stanislas Lalanne Granville has hosted several congregations which those of the Sacred Heart and Mercy Also between 1839 and 2008 the Sisters Hospitaller of Saint Thomas de Villeneuve were responsible for the hospice of Granville and for the St Nicolas Care Centre from 1976 The upper town still houses Carmelites A Protestant temple of the Reformed Church of France and another of the Evangelical Church welcome the faithful Churches of Granville nbsp The church of Notre Dame du Cap Lihou nbsp The church of Saint Paul seen from the upper town nbsp The church of Saint Nicolas nbsp The Protestant temple Media edit The weekly La Manche Libre fr and the newspaper Ouest France have premises in the commune and distribute a specific local edition in the Granville area Granville is located in the transmission area of the television channel France 3 Normandie A local correspondent of the Gazette de l Avranchin and of the Mortainais officiates in the commune Economy editGranville is the seat of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Central and South Manche fr It manages the port and airport IATA GFR ICAO LFRF of the commune It is the main centre of the labour area fr of Granville covering 46 communes 68 and an important tourist resort of the Bay of Mont Saint Michel Accessible via Granville railway station and situated 25 km 16 mi from the Route des Estuaires fr it is an important economic hub in the south of the department of Manche It has set up a business incubator and has three areas of activity or industrial areas Le Mesnil La Parfonterie and Le Pretot The largest employers in the commune are the centre of thalassotherapy Le Normandy the Compagnie Generale des Eaux and the biscotte factory of LU Heudebert fr opened in 1973 In 2017 the unemployment rate was 11 5 for a rated active population of 4 514 people 44 5 of the main residences were inhabited by their owners 2017 and the commune hosts 1 617 companies 2015 69 Granville was a garrison town with the presence of a contingent of the 1st RIMa until 1984 A market is held every Saturday on the Cours Jonville Distribution of employment by socioprofessionnal category fr in 2006 Farmers Artisans merchants CEOs Managers and higher professionals Intermediate professions Employees Manual workers Granville 0 3 7 1 10 6 24 0 32 5 24 0 Distribution of employment by business sector in 2006 Agriculture Industry Construction Trade services Public services Granville 1 8 8 6 5 2 44 4 40 0 Sources Insee 69 Port of Granville edit nbsp Panorama of the port of Granville from the Haute Ville From left to right In the background the Herel Marina the pier for Chausey the fishing port hall and the harbour at low tide The port of Granville dates back to the 16th century It is managed by the CCI of Centre and South Manche fr and includes boating activities fishing commercial and passenger traffic This part of the Channel is known for its many rocks off the coast not always visible above sea level and for the dangerous flows caused by tides The bay of Mont Saint Michel experiences one of the greatest tidal ranges in the world and this causes strong currents that generate dangerous flows into the international sea routes adding to the normal tidal flow that goes along the Channel The area also often experiences fog as well as easterly winds which can create dangerous storms during autumn and winter The waters off Granville are regularly affected by pollution caused by modern shipwrecks or by illegal fuel tank discharges into the sea There is now an international agreement between France and the UK as well as other European countries bordering the Channel to severely punish ship owners when such pollution can be proven The area is constantly under surveillance by aircraft and radar operated by civil and military authorities Granville harbour hosts a small maritime emergency rescue team The number of rocks and shipwrecks in the area creates an environment rich in seafood which can be exploited from the small harbour of Granville Fishing is dangerous in the area and many small fishing boats have been involved in collisions with large commercial vessels such as container ships and oil supertankers In 2005 Granville was placed at 32nd in the national rank with 197 000 tonnes of handled cargo and 44 100 passengers It is also a permanent station of the SNSM which has a lifeboat registered SNS 074 and two RIBs A cod fishing and oyster port in the 19th century it became There are some sea services to England and to the Channel Islands This traffic is relatively light from Granville as Saint Malo and Cherbourg offer more industrialised facilities for passenger and cargo traffic Manche Iles Express operates a ferry from Granville to St Helier 33 6 mi 54 1 km away 70 A port for the carriage of passengers with the ferries Douce France Jolie France II and Joly France I destined for the Chausey and Channel Islands Although there are no regular passenger sea services between Granville and Chausey French and British security forces operate permanently in this very dangerous and narrow area of the Channel which is one of the busiest sealanes in the world A trading port with the capacity to accommodate ships of 18 m 59 ft wide 71 125 m 410 ft long and five to six thousand tons of capacity primarily for shipments of scrap metal sand and gravel equipped with two cranes that can lift one hundred to three hundred tons per hour and with a conveyor belt with a capacity of 750 tons per hour The maximum permissible draught in Granville harbour is 11 60 with a tidal coefficient of 100 The first Norman fishing port of shellfish clams whelks dog cockles Saint Jacques scallops crustaceans lobsters brown crabs small crabs spider crabs and fish bream rays sharks soles pollock bass red mullet cod cuttlefish and squid for local consumption with a fish market a refrigerating terminal and a computerised sale of products The tonnage landed excluding farming is of the order of 16 000 tonnes per year An average of seventy five equipped vessels with nearly 450 professional sailors attend the port The marine cultures present on the islands of Chausey produce nearly 250 tons of clams 5 000 tonnes of mussels and 100 tons of oysters nbsp An aerial view of the development project of the port of Granville A marina since 1975 of a thousand docking rings at the Herel Basin 72 It hosts 3 500 vessels per year with an average of three passengers per boat They represent 787 000 of direct benefits in addition to an annual turnover of 25 million for the 40 companies which work from the marina 73 Located a few minutes walk from the town centre the Herel Marina is one of the local economic lungs A port redevelopment and expansion project will provide an additional seven hundred places for recreational boating the excavation of basins and access channels to extend access times and beaching capacity the addition of a quayside for cruise ships and of exception a new port city link with the study of a railway extension project a redevelopment of the road routes respecting and valuing the environmental and architectural heritage including the piers of the 18th and 19th centuries 74 Granville Mont Saint Michel Airport edit Main article Granville Mont Saint Michel Airport The airport of Granville Mont Saint Michel specialises in tourist and leisure aviation Tourism edit The commune has been classified as a climate resort since 16 March 1926 and a tourist and seaside resort since 12 March 1979 75 Tourism is an important part of the local economy The commune has a tourist office which ensures the promotion of monuments museums and natural sites and has joined the association of the Most Beautiful Detours of France It offers much infrastructure including some certified by the Quality Tourism fr label issued by the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance 76 Two three star hotels six two star hotels and seven hotels not classified with a total of 213 rooms two three star campsites with a total of 145 pitches communal gites on the Chausey Islands and guest rooms a youth hostel a thalassotherapy centre thirty three restaurants with a total of 1 931 seats For entertainment the city offers an independent casino four museums an aquarium a rich architectural and environmental heritage four beaches and four Wi Fi access points 77 17 5 of Granville housing are second homes with 54 1 of apartments Several cruises start at the port of Granville with destinations including Chausey the Channel Islands the Isle of Wight the Isles of Scilly and Ireland including by the passenger ferries of Granville the Lys Noir fr and La Granvillaise fr This organisation and the promotion of tourism provides an important attendance to the area with 69 627 passengers to Chausey in 2006 78 54 301 visitors for the Christian Dior Museum fr and 43 500 for the Aquarium du Roc in 2005 Tourist facilities in Granville nbsp The casino nbsp The aquarium Le Roc des harmonies Local culture and heritage editEnvironmental heritage edit Granville is located near the protected site of the Bay of Mont Saint Michel the cliff the Haute Ville and the Chausey Islands are themselves included in the list of sites protected by the DIREN fr of Normandy 79 From north to south through the peninsula the city is crossed by the hiking trail GR 223 which traverses Normandy from Honfleur to Avranches along the coast The town was awarded three flowers in the Competition of flowery cities and villages 80 thanks to its parks and gardens The Christian Dior Garden the Val es Fleur Park of 3 ha 7 4 acres complete with a zoo the squares of Marland the Arsenal Chartier Bisquine the Charles VII promenades those of the harbour and of the Plat Gousset The landscaped golf course on the territory of Breville sur Mer was designed by Harry Colt in 1912 and provides 27 holes of links golf The Chausey islands were proposed for integration into the Natura 2000 network in 1992 but the Council of the community of communes fr gave an unfavourable opinion in 2003 blocking the procedure to date 81 82 However the Conservatoire du littoral has acquired the Pointe du Phare 83 In addition the town has on its territory a sewage treatment plant and a waste processing plant for incineration and recycling It has also set up waste sorting and heads the Joint Association of Granville Coastal Areas for coastal protection against microbiological hazards Environmental heritage of Granville nbsp The Christian Dior Garden nbsp The Val es Fleur Park Architectural heritage edit nbsp Notre Dame du Cap Lihou Church nbsp The Christian Dior Museum at the Villa Les Rhumbs nbsp The Lys Noir French yawl from 1914 is based in Granville Granville heritage is rich of numerous religious buildings including the Notre Dame du Cap Lihou Church fr The ancient church of Notre Dame du Cap Lihou 1441 1796 it dominates the heights constitutes an imposing granite building of the Romanesque early Gothic style It was built by the English during the Hundred Years War The choir is of 1641 the nave of 1655 the apse chapels in 1676 and 1688 and the sacristy is of 1771 a listed historical monument since 1930 84 it is decorated with stained glass by Jacques Le Chevallier As well as a thirteenth century miraculous statue of Mary visitors should note on the eighteenth century facade the quatrain Si l amour de Marie Est en ton cœur grave En passant ne t oublie De lui dire un Ave If love of Mary is engraved on your heart when passing do not forget to say Hail to her The same verses are to be seen on the facade of Notre Dame de Bon Secours in Montreal There is also St Paul s Church the St Nicholas Church and the Protestant temple The lower town was partly built on land reclaimed from the sea Granville s military past remains the upper part of the old town is surrounded with the enclosure fr consisting of the ramparts from the fifteenth century the drawbridge Grande Porte the bloody theatre of the Siege des Vendeens in 1793 built in the 15th century destroyed and then raised in 1727 and listed as an historical monument since 2004 85 Inside the walls of the upper town are some beautiful houses of which several are concentrated on Rue Saint Jean On the Pointe du Roc overlooking the town the Bazeilles barracks built in 1758 the Genes Champagne barracks built in 1788 and the battery built in 1942 by the German occupiers have been listed monuments since 1987 and 1994 86 The Chateau de Grainville fr built in the 15th century registered as an historic monument since 1980 87 the Chateau de la Crete and Saint Nicolas Manor built in 1786 by the shipowner Nicolas Deslandes have been registered monuments since 1986 88 and bear witness to the importance of certain families in the region The statue of Pleville le Peley at the port celebrates the most illustrious character of the city The casino of Art Nouveau and Art Deco style built between 1910 and 1925 by architect Auguste Bluysen fr has been listed as an historic monument since 1992 89 the hotel des bains of 1926 the railway station of the 19th century the lighthouse of Cap Lihou fr built in 1828 according to a study of Augustin Fresnel 18 m 59 ft high Chausey Lighthouse fr built in 1844 19 m 62 ft high both classified as historical monuments 90 the Senequet Lighthouse fr on the rock of Senequet 2 nmi 3 7 km off the coast and 27 hole golf course built in 1912 by Harry Shapland Colt all date from the beginning of the resort nature of the commune The covered market was labeled Heritage of the 20th century by the DRAC The residential tower Le Charme The Charm located on Rue Jean Rostand dominates the commune with its thirteen floors 91 There is a museum located in one of the gates which preserves invaluable documents enabling visitors to discover the history of the town through the centuries Granville also is the home of the Christian Dior Museum which is located in the fashion designer s childhood home Villa Les Rhumbs 92 After a first bid at the beginning of the 1990s Granville postulated in 2009 to be labelled Town of Art and History 93 Declared 1 July 2015 in the sub prefecture of Avranches the association law 1901 Granville country of the foreshore which comprises the communes of Granville and Saint Pair sur Mer Jullouville and Carolles is now the candidacy Lands of Art and History label Architecture of Granville nbsp The gatehouse of the Haute Ville nbsp The Chateau de la Crete nbsp The Bank of France building nbsp The hotel des bains nbsp The covered market Festivities edit The festive year of Granville revolves around various events The carnival fr takes place every year during the week before Mardi gras It once celebrated the departure of the sailors who took advantage of the holiday before sailing for Newfoundland 94 95 In 2007 for its 134th edition it hosted more than 130 000 spectators The feast of the patron saint of the commune is organised at Pentecost Each year the third week of July is dedicated to the Rue Sorties de Bains festival of which the fifth edition took place in 2007 Outdoor concerts are held during the tourist season The procession of the Grand Pardon des Corporations et de la Mer Atonement of the Corporations and the Sea is traditionally held the last Sunday of July The Night of Welders a festival gathering metalworking artists takes place during the first weekend of August The same weekend the Journee du Livre Day of the Book is organised during which writers dedicate their works Two fairs are held on the second Saturday in April and the third Saturday of September a flea market is organised during the weekend of 14 July and an antique fair during the weekend before 15 August A collectors fair is scheduled for the last Sunday in October In 2005 the commune celebrated the centenary of the birth of Christian Dior by organising across the town exhibitions and retrospectives on the work and life of the couturier The Christian Dior Museum sometimes serves as a framework for events as was the case in 2008 for the exhibition entitled Dandysmes 1808 2008 of Barbey d Aurevilly at Christian Dior 96 Personalities linked to the commune edit Several public figures were born died or lived in Granville Born in Granville edit nbsp Statue of Georges Rene Le Peley de Pleville work in bronze and granite of sculptor Serge Santucci and architect Francois Pougheol Louis Georges de Brequigny 1714 1795 historian and paleographer 97 Georges Rene Le Peley de Pleville 1726 1805 vice admiral Minister of Marine and Colonies Pierre Nicolas Perree Duhamel fr 1747 1816 mayor of Granville member of the Council of Elders and the Tribunate Etienne Francois Letourneur 1751 1817 Director of the First French Republic Jacques Epron Desjardins fr 1767 1837 frigate captain during the Revolution and the Empire he commanded the seventy four L Argonaute at the Battle of Trafalgar Jacques Epron de la Horie fr 1768 1841 captain of La Piemontaise was born and died in Granville Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley 1770 1829 vice admiral he unsuccessfully commanded the vanguard of the line of Franco Spanish vessels at Trafalgar politician and Commander of the Legion of Honour Jacques Destouches fr 1780 1858 royal courier Francois Jourdan de La Passardiere fr 1787 1851 winner of the naval battle of Arromanches in 1811 Eustache Louis Jean Quernel fr 1787 1847 rear admiral Michel Pierre Alexis Hebert 1799 1887 lawyer and politician Fulgence Girard fr 1807 1873 novelist poet politician journalist and historian Louis Henri de Gueydon 1809 1886 vice admiral governor of Algeria Fortune du Boisgobey 1821 1891 writer 98 Charles Lhuillier fr 1824 1898 painter Felix Jourdan de la Passardiere fr 1841 1913 Auxiliary Bishop of Rouen Leon Herpin fr 1841 1880 landscape painter and on porcelain Paul Poirier fr 1853 1907 professor of anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine of Paris fr Emile Guepratte known as point d honneur point of honour 1856 1939 admiral Grand Croix of the Legion of Honour Lucien Dior fr 1867 1932 politician and industrialist Maurice Denis 1870 1943 painter engraver theorist and historian of French art Leon Carre 1878 1942 Orientalist painter winner of the Abd el Tif prize in 1909 Leon Julliot de La Morandiere 1885 1968 Professor and Dean of the Paris Law Faculty then at the University Paris II Pantheon Assas also director of the Comparative Law Institute in Paris Josyane fr 1901 1999 actress nbsp A bust of Christian Dior in the garden of his house Christian Dior 1905 1957 legendary couturier Denise Cocquerillat 1918 1999 archaeologist and Assyriologist specialist in cuneiform texts Alain Herve fr born 1932 journalist Pierre Pican 1935 2018 Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux Georges Fleury writer fr born 1939 writer Gerard Petipas fr born 1939 navigator Angele Delaunois born 1946 writer Bernard Chenez born 1946 cartoonist Michel Santier born 1947 Bishop of Lucon and of Creteil Jacky Robert born 1950 chef Philippe Pemezec fr born 1955 politician Jacques Gamblin born 1957 actor Christophe Auguin born 1959 sailor winner of the 1996 97 Vendee Globe yacht race Lucile Rogations born 1984 writer who published her first book at twelve winner of the Flammarion Youth Prize citation needed Died in Granville edit Eustache Berat fr 1791 1870 artist and songwriter Edmond Marie Poullain fr 1878 1951 painter died and is buried in Granville Jean Tissier 1896 1973 actor Eric Crozier 1914 1994 librettist and theatrical director Guy Degrenne 1925 2006 businessman Others edit Georges Bonheur investor who was significant to the development of Granville as a seaside resort at the beginning of the 20th century About the impact of his life and how it is still relevant in Granville today Richard I de Grenville died after 1142 Anglo Norman knight Thomas de Scales c 1400 1460 Knight of the Garter founded the citadel John Granville 1628 1701 1st Earl of Bath soldier of the English Civil War lived in Granville George Granville 1666 1735 1st Baron Lansdowne English poet playwright and politician lived in Granville Robert Carteret 3rd Earl Granville 1721 1776 3rd Earl Granville lived in Granville Louis Jacob 1768 1854 politician and admiral lived in Granville Honore de Balzac 1799 1850 writer stayed there in 1829 He evoked the headquarters in Granville in Le Requisitionnaire in 1831 Emile Riotteau fr 1837 1927 shipowner politician mayor of Granville from 1882 to 1888 lived in Granville Eugene Le Mouel fr 1859 1934 writer and poet lived in Granville Maurice Orange 1867 1916 painter lived in Granville Fernand Fleuret fr 1883 1945 poet stayed in Granville during his youth Maurice Marland 1888 1944 chief of the Resistance of Granville during World War II a professor in the same town Marin Marie fr 1901 1987 writer and painter lived at Chausey Bernard Beck fr 1914 2009 first president of the Court of Auditors in 1978 1982 was mayor Bertrand Poirot Delpech 1929 2006 journalist writer and academician lived at Chausey Stendhal Jules Michelet Victor Hugo Adolphe Willette and Gustave Goublier also all stayed in Granville Heraldry edit nbsp Arms of Granville Azure an armed dextrochere issuant from a cloud issuant from sinister Or maintaining a sword argent garnished Or and in chief a sun Or 99 They represent Joshua arresting the sun Old Testament Book of Joshua Chapter 10 verses 12 13 N B a dextrochere is a right arm literally right hand nbsp The coat of arms of Granville has changed several times during its history The first granted by Charles VIII in 1487 was thus Azure a dextrochere Or issuant from a cloud of the same which holds a sword argent mounted Or and placed between three stars of the same The sword symbolising the patriotism of the city during the English occupation the stars appearing on the night of 8 November 1442 when Louis d Estouteville fr took over the city nbsp The second coat of arms was established in 1697 Azure with dextrochere armed Or issuant from a cloud of the same and holding a sword argent the guard and handle Or surmounted by a Sun of the same The Sun replaced the stars this new coat of arms symbolised the importance of Granville in the monitoring of the coast of the Bay nbsp In 1793 the influence of the Revolution changed the azure to gules but the arm is no longer armed and the sword became an honorary which gives Gules an arm stretched argent emerging from a cloud azure holding a sword argent of a guard Or in pale nbsp In 1811 the First Empire offered new arms to the town Napoleon adding distinctive towns of second order signs a quarter charged with a capital N and a gold star and the exterior ornament of a mural crown Azure on a cloudy fess argent together with three stars Or two in chief and one in point dextrochere armed sable moving from sinister side of the shield and holding a sword high Or quarter and trappings of the towns of second order Finally in 1816 under the Restoration the town returned to its coat of arms from 1697 unable to pay the registration fee to return to the original coat of arms This coat of arms is now of the commune the azure and Sun symbolising its seaside character the sword recalling its military past of garrison town 100 The Granville arms appear on the locomotives nos X4791 and 8719C of the SNCF under the sponsorship of the commune 101 The commune also has a logo The commune also has a flag representing a quarterly of blue and white with a white cross encircled in blue and charged with a representation of the coat of arms in the centre It is notably used on the commune s yawls Gastronomy edit Granville is renowned for its marine products including Granvillaise galette with scallops sprinkled with cream sea bream in salt crust with virgin sauce mussels shrimps sea snails and whelks and the Granvillaise sole accompanied with mussels and prawns A speciality of the island quarter of Chausey is also linked The green sauce of Chausey fr On Saturday a market is held in the town centre to purchase local produce Finally the Maurice Marland de Granville Hotel School guarantees the dissemination of knowledge of Norman cuisine fr Granville dialect edit Beyond the Norman dialect there a dialect of the Granville area with its expressions An example expression is achitrer which means to land a punch 102 Granville in the arts and culture edit Granville is the subject of several paintings including Bateaux a Granville Boats at Granville painted in 1889 by Maurice Denis 103 Les brisants a la pointe de Granville The breakers at the tip of Granville painted around 1852 by Paul Huet and kept in the Louvre 104 Plage de Granville Beach of Granville painted in 1863 by Eugene Isabey 105 Myths and legends edit The Chausey Islands are part of the ancient Forest of Scissy fr a former place of pagan worship which covered the bay and which reportedly disappeared in 709AD under the waves According to a popular belief the Chausey Islands consist of 52 islands at high tide and 365 at low tide as the number of weeks and days in a year respectively Gallery edit nbsp A general view of Granville from the ramparts nbsp The Plat Gousset beach nbsp The facade of a Granville house on the rampart Rue du Midi See also editCommunes of the Manche department Douzelage Gare de Granville Granville disambiguation Granville corsairs fr Notes editReferences edit Repertoire national des elus les maires in French data gouv fr Plateforme ouverte des donnees publiques francaises 13 September 2022 Populations legales 2021 The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies 28 December 2023 Commune de Granville 50218 INSEE a b c Repertoire geographique des communes 2013 Gazetteer of Communes in 2013 IGN in French Archived from the original on 2015 01 08 Retrieved 2015 10 12 Donnees d erosion de la cote entre 1994 et 2006 Data erosion of the coast between 1994 and 2006 in French Archived from the original on 2007 09 28 Granville un service de transports urbain en 2014 Granville Urban transport service in 2014 La Manche libre fr in French Archived from the original on 21 December 2014 Retrieved 14 October 2015 Fiche du QPV de l Agora sur le site de la mission interministerielle a la Ville Sheet of the QPV of the Agora on the site of the inter ministerial mission to the city in French Archived from the original on 2012 06 04 a b c d de Beaurepaire Francois 1986 Les noms des communes et anciennes paroisses de la Manche The names of ancient parishes and communes of Manche in French editions Picard p 127 Dauzat Albert Rostaing Charles 1989 Dictionnaire etymologique des noms de lieu en France Etymological dictionary of place names in France in French Paris Librairie Guenegaud ISBN 2 85023 076 6 p 329 Ibidem Negre Ernest Toponymie generale de la France Toponymy General of France in French Vol 1 Droz p 1424 Lepelley Rene 1996 Dictionnaire etymologique des noms de communes de Normandie Etymological dictionary of the names of communes of Normandy in French Presses Universitaires de Caen ISBN 2 905461 80 2 p 138 a b Des villages de Cassini aux communes d aujourd hui Commune data sheet Granville EHESS in French Chronologie Granvillaise Granville Chronology Yves Lebrec in French Archived from the original on 4 January 2007 Histoire de Granville History of Granville Town hall of Granville in French Archived from the original on 2010 09 26 Miniac Jean Francois 2012 Les Nouvelles Affaires criminelles de la Manche The New Criminal Matters of Manche in French de Boree Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy in Granville 9 May 2014 Retrieved 23 October 2015 Mourir pour la Liberte Maurice Marland Dying for Freedom Maurice Marland lycee hotelier de Granville in French Academie de Caen Archived from the original on 11 December 2006 Jacques Legrand November 1990 Chroniques de la Seconde Guerre mondiale Chronicles of the Second World War in French editions Chronique page 611 Des villages de Cassini aux communes d aujourd hui Commune data sheet Saint Nicolas pres Granville EHESS in French Voyage de M Pompidou dans la Manche INA fr Youtube Archived from the original on 2021 12 21 Retrieved 16 October 2015 Le nom des habitants du 50 Manche habitants fr Repartition de la population par nationalites Insee permanent dead link a b Fiche de synthese demographique sig ville gouv fr Archived from the original on 2012 12 18 Population en historique depuis 1968 INSEE Commune de Granville 50218 Dossier complet Commune of Granville 50218 Complete dossier insee fr in French Retrieved 14 October 2015 Departement de La Manche 50 Dossier complet Department of Manche 50 Complete dossier insee fr in French Retrieved 14 October 2015 Elections municipales et communautaires 2014 MANCHE 50 Granville Municipal and Community elections 2014 MANCHE 50 Granville elections interieur gouv fr in French Ministry of the Interior a b c Granville 50400 Municipales 2014 elections ouest france fr Ouest France Comptes municipaux de Granville Municipal accounts Granville Base Alize in French Ministry of Finance Archived from the original on 2012 06 04 Retrieved 2015 10 20 Dette communale Municipal debt Base Alize in French Ministry of Finance Archived from the original on 2012 06 04 Retrieved 2015 10 20 Taux de taxes Tax rates taxe com in French Journal municipal Municipal journal PDF in French October 2007 Archived from the original PDF on 21 November 2008 a b Liste des maires de Granville List of mayors of Granville in French Resultats de l election presidentielle 2002 Results of the 2002 Presidential Election Ministry of the Interior in French Resultats de l election presidentielle 2007 Results of the 2007 Presidential Election Ministry of the Interior in French Resultats de l election presidentielle 2012 Results of the 2012 Presidential Election Ministry of the Interior in French Resultats de l election legislative 2002 Results of the 2002 Legislative Election Ministry of the Interior in French Resultats de l election legislative 2007 Results of the 2007 Legislative Election Ministry of the Interior in French Resultats de l election legislative 2012 Results of the 2012 Legislative Election Ministry of the Interior in French Resultats de l election europeenne 2004 Results of the 2004 European Election Ministry of the Interior in French Archived from the original on 2012 06 04 Resultats de l election europeenne 2009 Results of the 2009 European Election Ministry of the Interior in French permanent dead link Resultats de l election regionale 2004 Results of the 2004 Regional Election Ministry of the Interior in French Resultats de l election regionale 2010 Results of the 2010 Regional Election Ministry of the Interior in French Resultats election cantonale 2008 Results of the 2008 Cantonal Election Ministry of the Interior in French Resultats de l election municipale de 2001 1er tour Results of the 2001 Municipal Election 1st round Ouest France in French Resultats de l election municipale 2008 Results of the 2008 Municipal Election Ministry of the Interior in French Archived from the original on 2008 03 13 Resultats du referendum 2000 Results of the 2000 Referendum politiquemania com in French Resultats du referendum 2005 Results of the 2005 Referendum Ministry of the Interior in French Institution Sevigne Sevigne Institution in French Donnees du Centre Hospitalier Avranches Granville Data of the Hospital Centre of Avranches Granville in French Archived from the original on 2006 12 10 Article sur la fermeture de la maternite de Granville Article on the closure of the maternity ward of Granville in French Archived from the original on 2007 03 03 Le guide des maternites Maternity guide in French Archived from the original on 29 June 2007 Annuaire des medecins granvillais Directory of Granville doctors Conseil de l Ordre in French Annuaire des Chirurgiens dentistes Directory of dentists in French Archived from the original on 2008 06 01 Annuaire des pharmacies Directory of pharmacists Conseil de l Ordre in French Archived from the original on 2011 05 21 Retrieved 2015 10 18 Bureaux de poste granville Post Offices of Granville La Poste in French Archived from the original on 2014 12 21 Retrieved 2015 10 21 Bureaux de poste granville Post Offices of Granville La Poste in French Archived from the original on 2014 12 21 Retrieved 2015 10 21 Annuaire des avocats Directory of Lawyers Conseil National des Barreaux in French Archived from the original on 18 October 2007 Annuaire des huissiers Directory of bailiffs Chambre Nationale in French Archived from the original on 2015 11 02 Retrieved 2015 10 21 Securite civile Civil security Prefecture maritime in French Archived from the original on 24 February 2011 Douzelage org Home www douzelage org Archived from the original on 2010 02 17 Retrieved 2009 10 21 Douzelage org Member Towns www douzelage org Archived from the original on 2009 04 06 Retrieved 2009 10 21 National Commission for Decentralised cooperation Delegation pour l Action Exterieure des Collectivites Territoriales Ministere des Affaires etrangeres in French Archived from the original on 2013 11 27 Retrieved 2013 12 26 British towns twinned with French towns Archant Community Media Ltd Archived from the original on 2013 07 05 Retrieved 2013 07 11 Grand Depart Manche 2016 Letour fr Archived from the original on 16 October 2015 Retrieved 17 October 2015 US Granvillaise League of Lower Normandy in French Retrieved 17 October 2015 Zone d emploi 2020 de Granville 2810 Insee in French a b Dossier complet Commune de Granville 50218 INSEE in French Accueill manche iles express com Retrieved May 31 2014 Ports CCI Granville Presentation Generale granville cci fr Archived from the original on 2014 01 27 Retrieved May 31 2014 Les Ports The ports in French Archived from the original on 18 January 2007 Ouest France of 5 December 2008 Projet d amenagement du port de Granville Development project of the port of Granville Conseil general de la Manche in French Archived from the original on 2007 09 28 Retrieved 2015 10 23 Liste des stations classees List of classified stations Ministry of the Economy and Finance in French Archived from the original on 2012 02 11 Liste des etablissements labelises Qualite Tourisme en Basse Normandie List of establishments labeled Quality Tourism in Normandy PDF in French Archived from the original PDF on 2012 06 10 Granville 50400 Manche Journal du Net in French Rapport d analyse touristique de la Manche Tourist Analysis Report of Manche PDF in French Archived from the original PDF on 2011 02 24 Les sites inscrits du departement de la Manche Registered sites of the Manche department PDF Direction Regionale de l Environnement Basse Normandie in French Archived from the original PDF on 2008 12 04 Palmares des communes labellisees Ranking of labeled communes Villes et Villages Fleuris in French Archived from the original on 20 October 2008 Le Reseau Natura 2000 The Natura 2000 network Granville in French Archived from the original on 23 November 2008 Chausey Chausey Natura 2000 in French Archived from the original on 3 October 2010 Iles Chausey Chausey Islands Conservatoire du Littoral in French Archived from the original on 18 November 2006 Base Merimee PA00110418 Ministere francais de la Culture in French Base Merimee PA00110421 Ministere francais de la Culture in French Base Merimee PA00110414 Ministere francais de la Culture in French Base Merimee PA00110415 Ministere francais de la Culture in French Base Merimee PA00110420 Ministere francais de la Culture in French Base Merimee PA00110661 Ministere francais de la Culture in French Trois phares classes Monuments historiques Three lighthouses classified as historic monuments Ouest France in French 25 July 2009 Retrieved 24 October 2015 Le Charme Emporis Archived from the original on December 21 2014 Retrieved 24 October 2015 musee dior granville com Granville vise le label Ouest France 7 February 2009 Archived from the original on 4 June 2012 Patrimoine Heritage Town hall of Granville in French Archived from the original on 2010 09 25 Carnaval de Granville Carnival of Granville Carnaval of Granville in French Archived from the original on 2012 06 04 Musee Dior Dandysmes jusqu au 21 septembre Dior Museum Dandysmes until September 21 granville maville com in French Ouest France Retrieved 19 October 2015 Bemont Charles 1911 Brequigny Louis Georges Oudard Feudrix de Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 4 11th ed pp 497 498 Boisgobey Fortune du Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 4 11th ed 1911 pp 153 154 Gaso la banque du blason Histoire du blason de Granville History of the blason of Granville ville granville fr in French Archived from the original on 2010 01 08 Liste des blasons de parrainage des locomotives SNCF Archived from the original on 2001 02 22 Retrieved 2015 10 24 Du Bois Louis Glossaire du patois normand Glossary of the Norman dialect in French Base Joconde Reference no 01610000009 French Ministry of Culture in French Base Joconde Reference no 000PE001501 French Ministry of Culture in French Base Joconde Reference no 00000065878 French Ministry of Culture in French Bibliography editMordal Jacques 1964 Hold up naval a Granville Nuit du 8 au 9 mars 1945 Naval hold up to Granville Night of 8 to 9 March 1945 in French France Empire Villand Remy 1984 L activite du port de Granville en 1619 The activity of the port of Granville in 1619 in French Saint Lo Societe d archeologie de la Manche Cardot Pierre 1990 Le clerge de Granville et des environs sous la Revolution The clergy of Granville and its surroundings under the Revolution in French Original illustrations by Ernest Cocar Guidelou M 1990 Histoire de Granville History of Granville in French Paris Res universis Lorisse ISBN 9782877605069 Hebert Michel Ernouf Maurice 1995 Granville Granville in French Joue les Tours Alan Sutton fr Hollande Emmanuel 1997 Les ports de plaisance de Granville et de Barneville Carteret Memoire de maitrise The marinas of Granville and Barneville Carteret Master s memories in French Universite de Caen Marie known as Naour Edouard Fleury Georges 1998 Le Port de Granville la vie des marins pecheurs de 1930 a nos jours The port of Granville The life of fishermen from 1930 to the present in French Granville Edouard Marie Bordes Isabelle Leligny Jean Michel January 2000 Pecheurs a Granville de la morue a la praire Fishermen in Granville Of the cod to the clam in French Pays de Normandie Hurel Claude December 2000 Curiosites linguistiques au Pays de Granville Linguistic curiosities of the lands of Granville in French Revue de l Avranchin et du Pays de Granville Reffuveille Antoine 2001 La flotte corsaire de Granville pendant la guerre d Independance americaine 1778 1783 The Granville privateer fleet during the American War of Independence 1778 1783 in French Sinsoilliez Robert 2001 Le siege de Granville The siege of Granville in French Saint Lo Societe d archeologie et d histoire de la Manche Noel Le Coutour Elizabeth 2001 Le Merle Blanc de la Monaco du Nord Biographie de Richard Anacreon The Albino Blackbird of the Monaco of the North Biography of Richard Anacreon in French L Harmattan ISBN 9782296003880 Bougeard Jacques Goelau Jean Louis Santier Jean Marc June 2003 Granville Memoires de Carnaval Granville Carnival Memories in French Eurocibles Goelau Jean Louis March 2007 Granville Ville de garnison Granville garrison town in French Eurocibles Thin Edmond 2007 Granville Citadelle de la Mer Granville Citadel of the sea in French Orep ISBN 9782915762433 Santier Jean Marc 2010 Granville 70 ans de fetes et de sports Granville 70 years of festivals and sports in French Patrimoines Medias Cahierre Anne 2009 Dictionnaire des capitaines corsaires granvillais Dictionary of privateer captains of Granville in French Archives departementales de la manche External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Granville nbsp Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Granville Normandy Granville town council website in French Granville Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol XI 9th ed 1880 p 52 Remnants from world war II in Granville Georges Verez sculptor of Granville War Memorial Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Granville Manche amp oldid 1221378995, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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