Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Manche

Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
The church of Notre-Dame in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
Location within Normandy region Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
Coordinates: 49°22′45″N 1°13′30″W / 49.3792°N 1.225°W / 49.3792; -1.225Coordinates: 49°22′45″N 1°13′30″W / 49.3792°N 1.225°W / 49.3792; -1.225
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Manche
Arrondissement	Cherbourg
Canton	Sainte-Mère-Église
Area¹	26.98 km² (10.42 sq mi)
Population (1999)²	804
• Density	30/km² (77/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code	50509 / 50480
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. ² Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Sainte-Marie-du-Mont is a commune in the Manche department and in the region of Normandy in north-western France. The commune has 740 inhabitants.^{[note 1]}

Geography

Saint-Marie-du-Mont is located in the southeast of the Cotentin Peninsula, just north of the town of Carentan, and west of the Baie des Veys, the outlet of the Douve and the Vire.

The commune has a vast area in relation to neighbouring communes, it is bordered to the east by the English Channel, on the north by Audouville-la-Hubert, northwest by Turqueville, west by Bouteville, by Hiesville to the southwest and to the south by Brucheville and Brévands.

To the northeast of the commune is the National nature reserve of the Beauguillot domain, protecting part of the marshes of Cotentin and Bessin. The town is part of the Natural regional park of the Marshes of Cotentin and of Bessin.

History

World War II

GIs talk with villagers on June 12, 1944.

It is best known for being the scene of a military engagement between the American 101st Airborne Division and the German Wehrmacht on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

On June 6, 2012, the 68th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, a 12-foot tall bronze statue in veteran Richard Winters' likeness was unveiled near the village^[1]^[2] Winters only agreed for the statue to bear his resemblance on the condition that the monument would be dedicated to all junior officers who served and died during the Normandy landings.^[3]

A plaque paying tribute to the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division

In the hamlet of La Madeleine, a monument in honour of the Danish sailors was erected. 800 of them took part in the logistics of landing on allied ships.^[4]

Heraldry

	The arms of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont are blazoned : Azure, in pale a drakkar and sword argent (the sail charged with a leopard gules), between 2 gussets Or each charged with a fleur de lys gules.

Politics and administration

The town hall

List of mayors of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
Start	End	Name	Party	Other details
1813	1829	Vincent Larsonneur de Gouvets
...
1949^[5]	1991	Michel de Vallavieille	Independent
...
1998^[6]	In progress	Henri Milet^[7]	Independent	Farmer

Demography

In 2012, the commune had 740 inhabitants. Since 2004, census surveys in communes of less than 10,000 inhabitants are held every five years (in 2008, 2013, 2018, etc. for Sainte-Marie-du-Mont).^[8] For other years, the legal municipal population figures are estimates.^{[note 2]}

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1793	1,322	—
1800	1,358	+2.7%
1806	1,309	−3.6%
1821	1,356	+3.6%
1831	1,398	+3.1%
1836	1,472	+5.3%
1841	1,419	−3.6%
1846	1,422	+0.2%
1851	1,398	−1.7%

Year	Pop.	±%
1856	1,352	−3.3%
1861	1,357	+0.4%
1866	1,413	+4.1%
1872	1,314	−7.0%
1876	1,352	+2.9%
1881	1,332	−1.5%
1886	1,322	−0.8%
1891	1,298	−1.8%
1896	1,341	+3.3%

Year	Pop.	±%
1901	1,234	−8.0%
1906	1,219	−1.2%
1911	1,148	−5.8%
1921	999	−13.0%
1926	1,008	+0.9%
1931	921	−8.6%
1936	948	+2.9%
1946	971	+2.4%
1954	954	−1.8%

Year	Pop.	±%
1962	981	+2.8%
1968	896	−8.7%
1975	804	−10.3%
1982	765	−4.9%
1990	779	+1.8%
1999	804	+3.2%
2006	778	−3.2%
2010	770	−1.0%
2012	740	−3.9%

From 1962 to 1999: Population without double counting; for the years following: municipal population.
Source: Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1999^[9] then INSEE from 2004^[10]

Economy and tourism

Since February 2010, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Sainte-Mère-Église and Ravenoville have formed a grouping of "communes touristiques".^[11]

Places and monuments

The church of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption

The castle of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, registered as an historic building^[12]

Sherman tank facing Utah Beach

Utah Beach

Utah Beach Landing Museum: A museum which traces the military exploit of the Normandy landings and more specifically that of Utah Beach. Created in 1962, it is located adjacent to the beach, even where American troops landed on the morning of June 6. The museum presents a substantial collection of archival photographs, models, maps (cartes d'État Major), and particular articles of veterans and distributes an archive film in three languages.
Museum of the Occupation: located in the former office of German garrison (it housed the Kommandantur before becoming the headquarters of American troops), this museum is surprising, particularly by its murals created by the Germans themselves. The building became the headquarters of US troops for the Utah Beach area on the morning of 6 June 1944 and until 1 November. This museum houses a collection related to life under occupation (transport, supply, collaboration, resistance, deportation).
Liberation Museum: Located opposite the church, this museum houses a collection of uniforms, weapons, equipment and American and German vehicles. Captured trophies and objects from excavations of the battlefield where the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division and the American beach landing units faced the German troops.
Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, built in the 11th century and revised in the 12th to 13th centuries,^[13] is a listed monument since 1840.^[14] Before the Revolution, one could see the white marble tomb of Henri-Robert-aux-Épaules above which stood a group representing the captain kneeling in full armor and accompanied by two Swiss.
Utah Beach
Borne No. 0 0 of the "Liberty Road" at Utah Beach.
Stele in tribute to the sailors of the US Navy.
Redoute d'Audouville (17th century)
Château de l'Islet, one of the oldest of the Cotentin. The first building, probably a simple wooden fort was replaced by a castle, which included moats, dungeons, drawbridges etc. It was demolished by Robert-aux-Épaules in the early seventeenth century and replaced by a quite beautiful castle with two identical dwellings bordering the two opposite sides of a courtyard surrounded by moats. The latter was abandoned in the eighteenth century and was later partially destroyed, especially during the Revolution. Few vestiges remain.
Grandies Farm, seemed to belong to the 17th century Brohier, lord of the Grandis. The home is an elongated rectangular building, built in limestone rubble and covered by a hipped slate roof that retains a beautiful finial.
Maillardière Manor Farm (17th century)
Lavalle Nanor Farm
The manor in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont: The land was part of the manor of Charles, Prince of Soubise, sold in 1821. In the late 19th century, the Gosselin family simultaneously owned the manor, the river and Brucheville Manor.
Haudienville Manor (16th century), now separated by a boundary wall which divides the house into two properties. This remarkable mansion had a chapel founded in 1660. Its home is a vast construct comprising a rectangular building flanked by a pavilion.
Blainville Manor
Brécourt Manor (12th and 18th centuries), its name has evolved from Brucourt en Brécourt. The overall construction is rubble limestone. The roofs are slate, the house is on two levels lit by windows divided into bays. It was the scene of one of the most significant feats of the Battle of Normandy, the Brécourt Manor Assault, led by paratroopers of the 506th Infantry Regiment ordered by Major D. Winters of the 101st Airborne Division, on 6 June 1944.
Franqueville Manor
La Rivière Manor (16th century), the house is built of rubble limestone and discovered covered by a gabled slate roof. It is a long building with a tower of polygonal staircase off-work. Beautiful agricultural buildings are dated from 1793.
Vienville Manor, its name has evolved from Viéville (after 1656), then Vieuville. Between 1656 and 1699, Jean Mouton, husband of Miss Françoise Hauchemail, heir of the manor, undertook major renovations. From the old mansion some remains of the 17th century still hold attention, including a long farm building housing a remarkable carriage house and stable.
Mardelle Manor

Personalities linked to the commune

Paul-Jacques Bonzon, born in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont in 1908, a teacher trained at the école normale in Saint-Lô, exercised most of his career in the department of Drôme. He was among the most representative novelists youth of the 1960s to the 1980s. Author of more than a hundred novels, he is best known for the hit series of Les Six Compagnons [The Six Companions], La Famille HLM [The HLM Family] and Diabolo le petit chat [Diablo the Little Cat]. He did not forget his department of origin. The action of some of his novels is situated in the area: The dunes of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, the beaches of Ravenoville, the Îles Saint-Marcouf, etc. He died in Valence in 1978.
Gilles Perrault has lived in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont for more than thirty years. He wrote Les Gens d'ici [The People Here], a book that tells the life of people of the locality.

International relations

Sainte-Marie-du-Mont is twinned with Edelfingen, Bad Mergentheim.

Notes

↑ Municipal population, 2012.
↑ In the census table, by Wikipedia convention, the principle was retained for subsequent legal populations since 1999 not to display the census populations in the table corresponding to the year 2006, the first published legal population calculated according to the concepts defined in Decree No. 2003-485 of 5 June 2003, and the years corresponding to an exhaustive census survey for municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants, and the years 2006, 2011, 2016, etc. For municipalities with more than 10,000, the latest legal population is published by INSEE for all municipalities.

References

INSEE commune file

↑ Strassmann, Mark (June 6, 2012). "D-Day: Statue of 'Band of Brothers' hero Richard Winters unveiled". CBS News. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
↑ Allen, Peter; Watson, Leon (June 6, 2012). "Statue of U.S. war hero who inspired hit historical drama Band of Brothers unveiled on 68th anniversary of D-Day". Mail Online. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
↑ "Statue honors D-Day's junior U.S. officers". San Francisco Chronicle. June 7, 2012.
↑ Quétel, Claude (2011). Dictionnaire du Débarquement. Rennes: éditions Ouest-France. p. 210 "Danois". ISBN 978-2-7373-4826-6. 725 pages.
↑ "Le musée d'Utah Beach souffle ses 50 bougies". ouest-france.fr. Ouest-France. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
↑ "Municipales à Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. Henri Milet brigue un nouveau mandat". ouest-france.fr. Ouest-France. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
↑ 2014 election: "Un 4e mandat de maire pour Henri Milet". ouest-france.fr. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
↑ "Date du prochain recensement à Sainte-Marie-du-Mont" [Date of the next census in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont] (in French). Retrieved 3 September 2015.
↑ "Sainte-Marie-du-Mont" [Sainte-Marie-du-Mont] (in French). Retrieved 3 September 2015.
↑ "50509-Sainte-Marie-du-Mont 2006" [50509-Sainte-Marie-du-Mont 2006] (in French). Retrieved 3 September 2015. , "50509-Sainte-Marie-du-Mont 2008" [50509-Sainte-Marie-du-Mont 2008] (in French). Retrieved 3 September 2015. and "50509-Sainte-Marie-du-Mont 2012" [50509-Sainte-Marie-du-Mont 2012] (in French). Retrieved 3 September 2015.
↑ "Préfecture de la Manche - Recueil des actes administratifs - février 2010" [Prefecture of the Manche - compendium of administrative acts - February 2010] (PDF) (in French).
↑ "Monuments historiques" [Historic monuments]. Merimee (in French). Retrieved 3 September 2015.
↑ "Inventaire général du patrimoine culturel" [General inventory of the cultural heritage]. Merimee (in French). Retrieved 3 September 2015.
↑ "Monuments historiques" [Historic monuments]. Merimee (in French). Retrieved 3 September 2015.

External links

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Communes of Manche

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