Basse-Normandie

Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy) is a region of France. It was created in 1956, when the Normandy region was divided into Basse-Normandie and Haute-Normandie. The region includes three departments, Calvados, Manche and Orne. It covers 10,857 square miles, 3.2 percent of the surface area of France.

Manche, is the second largest urban area in Normandy after Caen, Granville, known as the “Monaco of the North”, Avranches. Mont-Saint-Michel is probably the most famous tourist attraction in Normandy, with 3 million visitors each year.

Colombage houses are the famous half-timbered houses seen in Normandy, also typical of both Normandy and Brittany are the longere, long, single storey buildings.

The region’s economy is heavily agricultural, with livestock and dairy farming, textiles and fruit production among its major industries. Iron ore is mined near Caen. Tourism is also a major industry. The region has direct ferry links to England (via the port of Cherbourg and Caen Ouistreham) and the beaches of Calvados were the site of the D-Day landings in June 1944. Basse-Normandie suffered badly during World War II, with many of the region’s towns and villages being destroyed during the Battle of Normandy.

Regions of Lower Normandy include the Cotentin Peninsula and La Hague, Pays d’Auge, and the Bessin.

The region is bordered along the northern coasts by the English Channel. There are granite cliffs in the west and limestone cliffs in the east. There are also long stretches of beach in the centre of the region. The bocage, patchwork of small fields with high hedges, typical of the western areas caused problems for he invading forces in the Battle of Normandy. There are meanders of the Seine as it approaches its estury which form a notable feature of the landscape.

Normandy was the home of the Normans in the early Middle Ages, the last people to successfully invade England. William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England in 1066 and became King William I of England. Normandy remained associated with England until 1087, in 1106-1144 and in 1154-1204. Normandy was occupied by English forces during the Hundred Years’ War in 1346-1360 and again in 1415-1450.

Norman families played important parts in the Crusades.

Architecturally, Norman cathedrals, abbeys and castles characterise the former Duchy in a way that mirrors the similar pattern of Norman architecture in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Domestic architecture in upper Normandy is typified by half-timbered buildings that also recall vernacular English architecture. Much urban architectural heritage was destroyed during the Battle of Normandy in 1944 – post war urban reconstruction, such as Le Havre and Saint-Lo, could be said to demonstrate both the virtues and vices of modernist and brutalist trends of the 1950s and 1960s. le Havre, the city rebuilt by Auguste Perret, was added to Unesco’s World Heritabe List in 2005.

Vernacular architecture in lower Normandy takes its form from granite, the predominant local building material. The Channel Islands also share this influence – Chausey was for many years a source of quarried granite, including that used for the construction of Mont Saint-Michel.

The cathedrals of Normandy have exerted influence down the centuries in matters of both faith and politics. Mont Saint-Michel is a historic pilgrimage site. The influence of Celtic Christianity an still be found in the Cotentin.

Normandy is also noted for its pastries. It is the birthplace of brioches. Confectionery of the region includes Rouen apple sugar, Isigny caramels, Bayeux mint chews, Falaise berlingots, Le Havre marzipans, Aregentan croquettes and Rouen macaroons.

Normandy is the native land of Taillevent, cook of the Kings of France Charles V and Charles VI. He wrote the earliest French cookery book named Le Viandier.

Further information: