Arromanches-les-Bains

Arromanches-les-Bains (French pronunciation: [aʁɔmɑ̃ʃ le bɛ̃] ; or simply Arromanches) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France.

Arromanches-les-Bains
Commune
Arromanches, with the remains of the Mulberry harbour in its bay
Coat of arms
Location of Arromanches-les-Bains
Arromanches-les-Bains Show map of France Arromanches-les-Bains Show map of Normandy
Coordinates: 49°20′24″N 0°37′16″W / 49.34°N 0.6211°W / 49.34; -0.6211
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Calvados
Arrondissement	Bayeux
Canton	Courseulles-sur-Mer
Intercommunality	CC Bayeux Intercom
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Marcel Bastide
Area ^1	13.7 km^2 (5.3 sq mi)
Population  (2022)	431
• Density	31/km^2 (81/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	14021 /14117
Elevation	0–55 m (0–180 ft) (avg. 15 m or 49 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Geography

Arromanches-les-Bains is 12 km north-east of Bayeux and 10 km west of Courseulles-sur-Mer on the coast where the Normandy landings took place on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Access to the commune is by the D514 road from Tracy-sur-Mer in the west passing through the town and continuing to Saint-Côme-de-Fresné in the east. The D87 road also goes from the town south to Ryes. The D65 road goes east to Meuvaines. About a third of the commune is the urban area of the town with the rest farmland.

History

Arromanches is remembered as a historic place of the Normandy landings and in particular as the place where a Mulberry harbour artificial port was installed. This artificial port allowed the disembarkation of 9,000 tons of materiel per day.^{[citation needed]}

It was on the beach of Arromanches that, during the Invasion of Normandy immediately after D-Day, the Allies established an artificial temporary harbour to allow the unloading of heavy equipment without waiting for the conquest of deep water ports such as Le Havre or Cherbourg. Although at the centre of the Gold Beach landing zone, Arromanches was spared the brunt of the fighting on D-Day so the installation and operation of the port could proceed as quickly as possible without damaging the beach and destroying surrounding lines of communication. The port was commissioned on 14 June 1944.^{[citation needed]}

This location was one of two sites chosen to establish the necessary port facilities to unload quantities of supplies and troops needed for the invasion during June 1944, the other being built further west at Omaha Beach. The British built huge floating concrete caissons which, after being towed from England, then had to be assembled to form walls and piers forming and defining the artificial port called the Mulberry harbour. These comprised pontoons linked to the land by floating roadways. One of these ports was assembled at Arromanches and even today sections of the Mulberry harbour still remain with huge concrete blocks sitting on the sand and more can be seen further out at sea.^{[citation needed]}

Some key figures: by 12 June 1944 more than 300,000 men, 54,000 vehicles, 104,000 tons of supplies had been landed. During 100 days of operation of the port 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tons of materiel were landed. The best performance of the port was in the last week of July 1944: during those seven days the traffic through Arromanches exceeded 136,000 tons or 20,000 tons per day.^{[citation needed]}

Today, Arromanches is mainly a tourist town. Situated in a good location for visiting all of the battle sites and war cemeteries, there is also a museum at Arromanches with information about Operation Overlord and in particular, the Mulberry harbours.

On 21 September 2013 Bradford-based sand sculpting company Sand in Your Eye created a tribute called "The Fallen 9,000". It was a temporary sculpture project—a visual representation of 9,000 people drawn in the sand which equates the number of civilians, German forces and Allies that died during the D-day landings. It coincided with Peace Day, and was washed away with the tide at the end of the day.

Heraldry

Arms of Arromanches-les-Bains

Blazon: Azure, an anchor of Or debruised by a mullet of Argent between two chains of Sable posed in chevron inverted broken, in chief Gules debruised by a leopard of Or armed and tongued Azure.

Administration

Town hall.

List of Successive Mayors

From	To	Name	Party	Position
1995	2020	Patrick Jardin		Optician
2020	2026	Marcel Bastide

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Arromanchais or Arromanchaises in French.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 430 —     1800 363 −2.39% 1806 450 +3.65% 1821 493 +0.61% 1831 520 +0.53% 1836 534 +0.53% 1841 528 −0.23% 1846 500 −1.08% 1851 490 −0.40% 1856 502 +0.49% 1861 505 +0.12% 1866 533 +1.09% 1872 532 −0.03% 1876 544 +0.56% 1881 481 −2.43% 1886 480 −0.04% 1891 455 −1.06% 1896 444 −0.49%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 444 +0.00% 1906 380 −3.07% 1911 335 −2.49% 1921 273 −2.03% 1926 282 +0.65% 1931 288 +0.42% 1936 262 −1.87% 1946 282 +0.74% 1954 287 +0.22% 1962 298 +0.47% 1968 339 +2.17% 1975 355 +0.66% 1982 395 +1.54% 1990 409 +0.44% 1999 552 +3.39% 2007 609 +1.24% 2012 546 −2.16% 2017 489 −2.18%
Source: EHESS and INSEE

Culture and heritage

Civil heritage

The commune has many buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:

• Houses (19th century)
• The Notre-Dame-des-Flots Monument at Rue du Calvaire (1911)
• The Grand Hotel at 22 Rue du Maréchal Joffre (20th century)
• The old Radar Station at Le Callouet (20th century)
• The Château du Petit Fontaine (1764)
• An Orientation table (20th century)
• The Artificial Harbour and Winston Churchill Harbour (20th century)
• The 6 June 1944 Museum (1954)
• A Lavoir (Public laundry) (1896)
• The Town Hall and Boys' Primary School (1884)
• The Village (Antiquity)
• Houses and Hotels (18th-20th century)

Other sites of interest

• The Museum of the Landings
• Arromanches 360 degrees

Religious heritage

The commune has several religious buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:

A Presbytery at 4 avenue de l'Amiral Mountbatten (1836)

A Monumental Cross at Rue du Calvaire (1901)

A Cemetery (1857)

The Parish Church of Saint Peter (19th century) The Church contains many items that are registered as historical objects:

• Stained glass windows (19th-20th century)
• Ciboria (19th century)
• A Paten (19th century)
• A Monstrance (19th century)
• A Chalice (19th century)
• A Box for Oil for the sick (20th century)
• An Ex-voto Painting: Fishermen in danger (19th century)
• A Painting: Saint Peter (19th century)
• A Painting: Saint Paul (19th century)
• A Cross: Christ on the Cross (19th century)
• A Table (17th century)
• 34 Pews (19th century)
• The Choir bench and wood panelling (19th century)
• A Pulpit (19th century)
• A Baptismal font (19th century)
• An Altar, Tabernacle, and Retable (19th century)
• An Altar (1976)
• An Altar (1) (18th century)
• The Furniture in the Church

Picture gallery

• Arromanches-les-Bains Panorama
• Remains of the Mulberry harbour on the beach
• Arromanches railway station around 1901
• View of the beach
• Arromanches town
• The cliffs along the coast
• Remains of German defences and the Mulberries in the background
• The Lavoir (public laundry)
• Arromanches memorial
• The Museum of the Landings
• Mulberry harbour in operation (1944)
• Commemorative plaque
• Arromanches from Cape Manvieux
• A "whale pier" bridge element from the Mulberry harbour on display since 2004
• The Mulberry harbour in June 1944
• Winston Churchill at Arromanches 21–23 July 1944
• Aerial view of the Mulberry harbour in September 1944
• Sherman tank displayed at Arromanches
• Arromanches Church
• Church of Saint Peter
• Sunset at Arromanches

Notable people linked to the commune

• Jules Carpentier, French inventor. A main street is named in his honour.^{[citation needed]}
• François Carpentier, son of Jules Carpentier, French architect and mayor of the commune. He created the Museum of the Landings in Arromanches.^{[citation needed]}
• Sylvie Joly owned a villa in the commune. Her father was mayor of the commune from 1947 to 1963.^{[citation needed]}
• The Boisgelin family owned a large part of the commune and still have a large house.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Communes of the Calvados department
• Mulberry harbour
• French aircraft carrier Arromanches (R95)

Panorama

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
2. "Populations de référence 2022" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 19 December 2024.
3. Google Maps
4. Arromanches D-Day Museum homepage
5. The Fallen 9000 info page
6. List of Mayors of France (in French)
7. Le nom des habitants du 14 - Calvados, habitants.fr
8. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Arromanches-les-Bains, EHESS (in French).
9. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
10. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121719 House at 11 Rue de l'Abreuvoir IA00121720 House at 2 Rue de la Batterie IA00121720 Villa les Tourelles at 7 Rue de la Batterie IA00121723 Le Norval House at 16-18 Rue Charles Laurent IA00121722 House at 7-9 Rue Charles Laurent IA00121724 Villa Graziella at 25 Rue du Colonel René Michel IA00121725 House at 33 Rue du Colonel René Michel IA00121727 Chalet Maurice at 26 Boulevard Gilbert Longuet IA00121726 Villa les Embruns at 8 Quai du Général Leclerc IA00121728 House at 11 Rue du Maréchal Foch IA00121729 Villa le Manoir at 18 Rue du Maréchal FochIA00121710 Les Trois Chalets at 21-25 Rue du Maréchal Foch IA00121730 Villa d'Arromanches at 28 Rue du Maréchal Foch IA00121732 Fisherman's House at 28 Rue du Petit Fontaine IA00121731 House at 8 Rue du Petit Fontaine (in French)
11. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121714 Notre-Dame-des-Flots Monument at Rue du Calvaire (in French)
12. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121733 Grand Hotel (in French)
13. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée PA14000009 Radar Station (in French)
14. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121736 Château du Petit Fontaine (in French)
15. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121735 Orientation Table (in French)
16. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121734 Artificial Harbour and Winston Churchill Harbour (in French)
17. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121717 6 June 1944 Museum (in French)
18. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121716 Lavoir (in French)
19. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121715 Town Hall and Boys' Primary School (in French)
20. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121709 Village (in French)
21. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121708 Houses and Hotels (in French)
22. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121718 Presbytery at 4 avenue de l'Amiral Mountbatten (in French)
23. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121712 Monumental Cross at Rue du Calvaire (in French)
24. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121713 Cemetery (in French)
25. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00121711 Parish Church of Saint Peter (in French)
26. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14005208 Samaritan at the well and Nazareth Workshop IM14005201 Virgin at Prayer and Saint Joseph IM14001180 Prayers and offerings by Sailors to the Virgin(in French)
27. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001199 Ciborium for the sick IM14001198 Ciborium (1) IM14001197 Ciborium (2)(in French)
28. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001196 Paten (in French)
29. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001195 Monstrance (in French)
30. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001194 Chalice (in French)
31. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001193 Box for Oil for the sick (in French)
32. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001192 Ex-voto Painting: Fishermen in danger (in French)
33. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001191 Painting: Saint Peter (in French)
34. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001190 Painting: Saint Paul (in French)
35. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001189 Cross: Christ on the Cross (in French)
36. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001188 Table (in French)
37. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001187 34 Pews (in French)
38. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001186 Choir bench and wood panelling (in French)
39. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001185 Pulpit (in French)
40. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001184 Baptismal font (in French)
41. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001183 Altar, Tabernacle, and Retable (in French)
42. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001182 Altar (in French)
43. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001181 Altar (1) (in French)
44. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM14001179 Furmniture in the Church (in French)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arromanches-les-Bains.

• Arromanches Tourist office website
• Photos and information on the Musée du Débarquement at Arromanches (in French)
• The Battle of Arromanches of 1811 Archived 2014-09-12 at the Wayback Machine on the History of Normandy website. (in French)
• Aromanches on the 1750 Cassini Map