Granville, Manche Département, Normandy, France

🇫🇷 Granville is a commune in the Manche department and region of Normandy, north-western France. The chef-lieu of the canton of Granville and seat of the Communauté de communes de Granville, Terre et Mer, it is a seaside resort and health resort of Mont Saint-Michel Bay, at the end of the Côte des Havres, 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. 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  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: Location Granville is located at the edge of the English Channel at the extremity of the natural region  of the Cotentin. It defines the north of the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel and the south of the Côte des Havres. 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 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); of mostly urbanised territory, but this urbanisation is now limited by the Natura 2000 European directive and the law of preservation of the coastline. The town is part of the association  of Les Plus Beaux Détours de France.

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.

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) south-west 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 40 km (25 mi) south-west of Saint-Lô, 24 km (15 mi) north-west of Avranches, 27 km (17 mi) south-west 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) north-east of Cancale and 99 km (62 mi) to the south-west 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.

Geography: Hydrography Granville has natural limits materialised by the Boscq  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.

Geography: Relief 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).

Neighbouring communes Granville, located on the Pointe du Roc is washed to the north, south and to the west by the English Channel. To the north-east lies the commune of Donville-les-Bains, the village of Yquelon is to the east and to the south-east 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 north-west, and Mont Saint-Michel is to the south.

Transport Several highways serve the commune including the downgraded roads RN 171  (now the RD 971 from Carentan), RN 24BIS  (now the RD 924 towards Villedieu-les-Poêles) and RN 173  (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 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  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  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  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.

Quarters and localities 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.

History According to a legend concerning the Mont Saint-Michel Bay, Granville and the insular quarter of Chausey were covered in the Forest of Scissy sunken in 709. 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. 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. In 1439, the construction of the Notre-Dame du Cap Lihou Church  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  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 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.

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  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. 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  and 202nd infantry regiment.

After the war, the regatta resumed in 1919, the carnival in 1920 and a son of the area, Lucien Dior 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.

History: World War II 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.

On 6 June 1944, the "Green Plan" of sabotage of railway lines was implemented to cut the Paris–Granville line. 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.

Contemporary history 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]. On 4 June 1965, Granville welcomed Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.

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  in 2000. In 1973, Heudebert  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  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.

Education The commune was attached to the Academy of Caen. Four public kindergartens and primary schools  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.

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

Added to these establishments is the Sévigné Institution, a private school  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 it hosts a GRETA 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.

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

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, eight dentists and seven pharmacists.

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 Granville welcomes the CCI of Centre and South-Manche a CAF a subdivision of the DDE 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 and one in the quarter of Saint-Nicolas, agencies of ASSEDIC, ANPE and AFPA an auction house and three notarial offices, two lawyers' offices attached to the bar of Avranches and a bailiff's office. The civil security has a base for monitoring the English Channel equipped with a Eurocopter EC145.

Culture The commune has much cultural infrastructure, including three museums: The Christian Dior Museum  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 located in the home of the King who provides an overview of the history of the city, and the Richard Anacréon Modern Art Museum. 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  animate the life of the commune.

Sixty-four associations  relay and encourage communal cultural life.

Sport 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 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.

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  ends each year at Granville. The commune hosted the start of the third stage of the 2016 Tour de France.

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  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  and a third team in the district division.

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

Religion The Catholic churches of Granville are Notre-Dame-du-Cap-Lihou 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.

Media The weekly La Manche Libre  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 Granville is the seat of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Central and South Manche. It manages the port and airport (IATA: GFR, ICAO: LFRF) of the commune. It is the main centre of the labour area  of Granville, covering 46 communes. 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 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  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). 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.

Port of Granville The port of Granville dates back to the 16th century. It is managed by the CCI of Centre and South-Manche  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. 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, 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. • A marina, since 1975, of a thousand docking rings at the Hérel Basin. 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. 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.

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

Economy: Tourist Industry The commune has been classified as a climate resort since 16 March 1926, and a tourist and seaside resort since 12 March 1979. 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  label issued by the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance: 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. 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  and La Granvillaise.

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

Environmental heritage 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  of Normandy. 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 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  gave an unfavourable opinion in 2003, blocking the procedure to date. However, the Conservatoire du littoral has acquired the Pointe du Phare.

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.