Lessay
Encyclopedia
Lessay is a commune
in the Manche
department in north-western France
.
in Normandy. It was partially destroyed by fighting in the town during July-August 1944.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Manche
Manche
Manche is a French department in Normandy named after La Manche , which is the French name for the English Channel.- History :Manche is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
department in north-western France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
History
It was originally founded as a monastery but a town grew up around it over the years. The 10th century monastery is one of the greatest examples of Romanesque architectureRomanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
in Normandy. It was partially destroyed by fighting in the town during July-August 1944.
Heraldry
Points of interest
- LORAN-C transmitter Lessay
- La Foire: the Sainte Croix fair of Lessay is a trade fair established in the 11th century in order to develop commercial activity in the village. For three days in the second week of September, 42 acres (169,968.1 m²) of Lessay is transformed into a marketplace, attracting over 400,000 visitors. The fair offers demonstrations of old and new trades, thousands of stalls selling a range of products from household equipment to animals, food, cars and garden and agricultural tools.
- Lessay was the location for the studio for English language commercial radio station Contact 94Contact 94Contact 94 was a radio station that broadcast from France to the Channel Islands between 1988 and 1991.-See also:*Channel 103*BBC Radio Jersey*Island FM*BBC Radio Guernsey-Further reading:*****...
which was aimed at the Channel Islands before they had commercial radio of their own. The station launched on 5 September 1988 and closed in 1991.