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'Cherbourg-Octeville' is a town and commune in Normandy, north-west France. It was formed when the city of Cherbourg absorbed Octeville on February 28, 2000, and was officially renamed Cherbourg-Octeville.
Cherbourg holds an arsenal of the French Navy.

Contents

Geography

Demographics

History

Cherbourg-Octeville

Periphery

Sites of interest

Public Transport and Infrastructure

See also

References

External links

Geography

Cherbourg-Octeville is situated at the north of the Cotentin Peninsula. It is in the Manche ''département'' (of which it is the ''sous-préfecture'') in the Basse-Normandie région. At the time of the 1999 census the city of Cherbourg had an area of 6.91 km² (2.668 sq mi), while the city of Octeville had an area of 7.35 km² (2.838 sq mi). The amalgamated city today has an area of 14.26 km² (5.506 sq mi).

Demographics

The combined population of Cherbourg and Octeville at the 1999 census was 42,318 inhabitants. (Separately, the official numbers were 25,370 for Cherbourg and 16,948 for Octeville.) The population of Cherbourg metropolitan area (the ''aire urbaine de Cherbourg'') at the 1999 census was 117,855 inhabitants. The city is now the second largest in the Basse-Normandie region (after Caen), surpassing Alençon, which had been second before the amalgamation. Also, the city is the largest in the Manche ''département'', although Saint-Lô is the ''préfecture'' (capital).

History

Cherbourg-Octeville

The Cotentin was in fact the first territory conquered by the men from the North, the Vikings. For these sea people, it was logical that Cherbourg should become a port.
Cherbourg was the first stop of RMS ''Titanic'' after it left Southampton, England. On 19 June 1864, the naval engagement between USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama took place off Cherbourg. The Battle of Cherbourg, fought in June 1944 following the Normandy Invasion, ended with the capture of Cherbourg on June 30.
The Norman language writer Alfred Rossel, was a native of Cherbourg, composed many songs which form part of the heritage of the region. Rossel's song Sus la mé ("on the sea") is often sung as a regional patriotic song. The local dialect is known as Cotentinais

Periphery

La Glacerie comes from the French for glass factory. In 1655, Lucas de Néhou built a glass factory which was provided for buildings like Galerie des Glaces and Château de Versailles. The factory in La Glacerie was destroyed by Allied bombardments in 1944.

Sites of interest

La Glacerie has a race track. The Cité de la mer is a large museum devoted to scientific and historical aspects of maritime subjects.
Cherbourg Basilica:[1]

Public Transport and Infrastructure

Cherbourg-Octeville is a port on the English Channel.
Ferry services to the UK and Ireland run frequently from Cherbourg. During the summer Brittany Ferries operate up to five sailings a day to Poole for passengers and freight and a summer fastcraft service to Portsmouth with up to two sailings a day, in the winter this is reduced to three sailings a day to Poole only. Services to Ireland are run by Irish Ferries and Celtic Link. Both operate to Rosslare with up to three sailings a week for passengers and freight. A planned Celtic Link freight service to Portsmouth that was scheduled to commence in January 2007 did not start because of problems with the ship planned for use on the service. P&O Ferries and Stena Line previously operated services to Cherbourg from Portsmouth and Southampton respectively.
The city's station is at the end of a railway line built by the Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest from Paris. As well as a main line station there was also the ''Gare Maritime Transatlantique'' station. This now forms part of the Cité de la mer. Cherbourg is also at the end of the N13 road from Paris and Caen.
The nearest airport is in Maupertus-sur-Mer which is named Cherbourg Maupertus (IATA code: CER, IACO code: LFRC).

See also

★ ''Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg)'', a musical film

★ Cité de la mer

References

★ Results of the census of 1999 INSEE

External links

★ Cherbourg on Titanic-Titanic.com

★ Official website (English/French/German)