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Granville, France

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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A fortified sea-port and bathing-resort of northwestern France, in the department of Manche, at the mouth of the Bosq, 85 m. S. by W. of Cherbourg by rail. Pop. (1906) 10,530. Granville consists of two quarters, the upper town built on a promontory jutting into the sea and surrounded by ramparts, and the lower town and harbour lying below it. The barracks and the church of Notre-Dame, a low building of granite, partly Romanesque, partly late Gothic in style, are in the upper town. The port consists of a tidal harbour, two floating basins and a dry dock. Its fleets take an active part in deep sea fishing, including the cod-fishing off Newfoundland, and oyster-fishing is carried on. It has regular communication with Guernsey and Jersey, and with the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon. The principal exports are eggs, vegetables and fish; coal, timber and chemical manures are imported. The industries include ship-building, fish-salting, the manufacture of cod-liver oil, the preserving of vegetables, dyeing, metalfounding, rope-making and the manufacture of chemical manures. Among the public institutions are a tribunal and a chamber of commerce. In the commune are included the Iles Chausey about 72 m. N.W. of Granville (see Channel Islands). Granville, before an insignificant village, was fortified by the English in 1437, taken by the French in 1441, bombarded and burned by the English in 1695, and unsuccessfully besieged by the Vendean troops in 1793. It was again bombarded by the English in 1803.