Valognes

French commune
nomcommune=Valognes
région=Basse-Normandie
département=Manche
arrondissement=Cherbourg-Octeville
canton= Valognes
(chef-lieu)
insee=50615
cp=50700
maire= Jacques Coquelin
mandat=2008-2014
intercomm= Communauté de communes du Bocage valognais
longitude= -1.4667
latitude= 49.5167
alt moy=
alt mini=19 m
alt maxi=87 m
hectares=1,563
km²=15.63
sans=7,815
date-sans=1999
dens=500
date-dens=1999

Valognes is a town and commune in Normandy, northwestern France, in the Manche "département". It lies on the Merderet river, 20 km south-east of Cherbourg.

History

The town was built not far from the Roman town of Alauna or Alaunia, from where the town derives its name. It was a fortified stronghold under the Norman dukes and French monarchs. Also here, William the Conqueror received the news that the barons of Cotentin and Bessin were conspiring to kill him, enabling him to escape to Falaise. Edward III of England took Valognes without resistance, spent one night there and then pillaged and burnt the city. Henry III of England possessed the town, which remained under English rule for thirty years. It would be a kind of resort for English aristocratic visitors until the 1920s. During the French Wars of Religion, (1588) Valognes sided with the Catholic League. The castle, like that of Cherbourg, was completely destroyed under Louis XIV. Of the convent of the Capuchins and Cordeliers and the abbey of Benedictine nuns, which existed in Valognes prior to 1792, only the latter remains, transformed into the hospice of the "Rue des Religieuses".

The 14th-century church of Notre Dame had a dome (dated 1612), being the only example of a Gothic dome in France. The whole building was destroyed in 1944, during the Battle of Normandy.

Before the French Revolution, Valognes was the residence of more than a hundred families of distinguished birth and fortune, and was for a long time afterwards the home, "en villégiature", of many of the old "noblesse". Thus the town was known as the "Versailles of Normandy" for its aristocratic mansions and palaces, as well as the quiet, mysterious ambience and exclusivity its streets. This was the Valognes of Barbey d'Aurevilly.

The 1928 Methuen guide book to Normandy by Cyril Scudamore rather more prosaically describes Valognes as "a clean and well-built town, whose fine old houses bear witness to its former prosperity".

Little remains of Valognes' famous architectural heritage as many of the aristocratic mansions were reduced to rubble during the battle of Normandy. The lovely "hôtel" de Beaumont, however, still stands.

Museums

The town has two museums devoted to the two alcoholic drinks for which Normandy is known: one for cider, the other for the apple brandy called "calvados".

Miscellaneous

Twin towns

Valognes is twinned with
* Wimborne in Dorset, England
* Stolberg in Rhineland, Germany

External links

* [http://www.mairie-valognes.fr/ Valognes ville d'art et d'histoire] (official site)