Jump to content

Flers, Orne

Coordinates: 48°45′06″N 0°33′38″W / 48.7518°N 0.5605°W / 48.7518; -0.5605
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flers
Château de Flers
Château de Flers
Coat of arms of Flers
Location of Flers
Map
Flers is located in France
Flers
Flers
Flers is located in Normandy
Flers
Flers
Coordinates: 48°45′06″N 0°33′38″W / 48.7518°N 0.5605°W / 48.7518; -0.5605
CountryFrance
RegionNormandy
DepartmentOrne
ArrondissementArgentan
CantonFlers-1 and 2
IntercommunalityCA Flers Agglo
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Yves Goasdoué[1]
Area
1
21.15 km2 (8.17 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
14,482
 • Density680/km2 (1,800/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
61169 /61100
Elevation182–276 m (597–906 ft)
(avg. 189 m or 620 ft)
Websitewww.flers-agglo.fr
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Flers (French pronunciation: [flɛʁ]) is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy, France.[3] The inhabitants are called Flériens in French.

Geography

[edit]
Flers on the 18th century Cassini map

Flers is bordered to the north by the communes of Saint-Georges-des-Groseillers and Aubusson, to the north-east by Ronfeugerai, to the west by La Lande-Patry and Saint-Paul, to the south-west by La Chapelle-Biche, La Chapelle-au-Moine and Messei, and to the south-east by La Selle-la-Forge.

The commune is situated in the north-west of the Orne département, about ten kilometres from the border of the Calvados, an hour east of Granville, and two hours by train from Paris. It depends on a prefecture located an hour north in Caen.

The commune is crossed by the river Vère which ends in the river Noireau in Pont-Erembourg (commune of Saint-Denis-de-Méré).

Climate

[edit]

Flers is part of the region that stretches from the Bocage to the Écouves forest, the wettest part of the Orne département, with relatively mild temperatures thanks to its proximity to the English Channel and the effect of the sea. It benefits from an oceanic climate with mild winters and temperate summers.[4]

History

[edit]

The first written mentions of Flers appear at the end of the twelfth century as Flers (1164–1179) or Flex (1188–1221). Some authors think that the name of the town derives from the German toponym Hlaeri, meaning wasteland or common grazing land, while others suggest an origin in the German Fliessen, from the Dutch vliet or the Latin fluere Latin Fluere, indicating a waterflow, basin or marsh. Yet another etymology links Flers to the Latin flexus, meaning the bend in a road or river. Finally, the Breton term fler or flear means bad smell, indicating the stench of stagnant water. All etymologies seem to agree however that the town is named for its topography and the water close to it.[5]

Middle Ages

[edit]

From the tenth century on, the de Flers family headed a barony. Tradition has it that in the 11th century, the two brothers Foulques d'Aunou and Guillaume de Gasprée married two sisters who were Ladies of Flers. Foulques d'Aunou received as his wedding gift Flers, seat of the barony.[6]

The construction of the castle of Flers began in the 12th century as a fortified location of wood and stone surrounded by water. The chronicles of the Hundred Years War do not mention a fortified place in Flers, revealing that it didn't present a major strategic interest at the time.

Construction of the castle

[edit]

In 1790, in the revolutionary period, Flers formed a canton in the district of Domfront, in the Orne département.[7] The countess of Flers, Jacqueline Le Goué de Richemont, wife of Pierre-François de Paule de La Motte-Ango, supported the counter-revolutionary chouans. The castle of Flers became the headquarters of count Louis de Frotté, one of the leaders of the Normandic Chouannerie.[8]

Owners of the Flers domain
Year Owner
1901 The town buys the castle
1820–1901 Schnetz family
1806–1820 de Redern family
1736–1806 de La Motte-Ango family
1547–1736 de Pellevé family
1404–1547 de Grosparmy family
1396–1404 Guillaume de Tournebu
1320–1396 Robert III d'Harcourt
Robert IV d'Harcourt
Robert V d'Harcourt
1180–1320 Foulques d'Aunou
Thomas d'Aunou
10th to 12th century de Flers family

Industrial Revolution

[edit]

In 1901, Julien Salles, mayor of Flers, bought the castle for the community.

World War II

[edit]

Like other towns near the D-Day landing, Flers was one of the targets of strategic bombing of Normandy on 6 and 7 June 1944, aimed at reducing the advance of German reinforcements. 80% of the town was destroyed. What remained of the town was liberated on 16 August by the British 11th Armoured Division[9] and the memorial to the division is at Pont de Vère, north of Flers.

Heraldry

[edit]
Arms of Flers
Arms of Flers
The arms of Flers are blazoned :
Gules, 2 shuttles in saltire Or, between 3 bobbins argent, a chief of France (Azure, 3 fleurs de lys Or.



Demographics

[edit]
Historical population
YearPop.±%
1793 2,603—    
1800 2,656+2.0%
1806 2,821+6.2%
1821 3,454+22.4%
1831 4,386+27.0%
1836 4,895+11.6%
1841 6,113+24.9%
1846 7,042+15.2%
1851 8,461+20.2%
1856 9,217+8.9%
1861 10,054+9.1%
1866 10,260+2.0%
1872 10,678+4.1%
1876 11,155+4.5%
1881 12,304+10.3%
1886 14,013+13.9%
1891 13,860−1.1%
1896 13,404−3.3%
YearPop.±%
1901 13,680+2.1%
1906 13,704+0.2%
1911 13,610−0.7%
1921 12,812−5.9%
1926 12,948+1.1%
1931 13,022+0.6%
1936 12,900−0.9%
1946 12,336−4.4%
1954 13,010+5.5%
1962 14,634+12.5%
1968 17,683+20.8%
1975 20,486+15.9%
1982 18,911−7.7%
1990 17,888−5.4%
1999 16,947−5.3%
200715,808−6.7%
201214,968−5.3%
201714,734−1.6%
For the census from 1962 the official population corresponds with the population without duplicates
Source: EHESS[7] and INSEE[10]

Transport

[edit]
Train station of Flers-de-l'Orne

Flers station is served by TER Normandie trains between Paris and Granville. It has a local bus system for Flers and the surrounding communities, and departmental lines connecting it with other major towns in Orne and Calvados.

L'aérodrome Flers-Saint-Paul is an aerodrome bordering Flers in the neighbouring commune of La Lande-Patry that opened in 1937.[11][12] Its ICAO airport code is LFOG.[13] It has a 742 meter paved runway.[14]

Monuments and interesting places

[edit]

The castle, dating back to the 16th and 18th century, houses a museum of ancient and 19th century paintings and sculptures, applied art (furniture and decoration) and local history.[15] The castle was registered as a Monument historique in 1907.[16]

Flers has another building registered as a monument, the Chapel of Remembrance (Also known as the chapel of the minor seminary), which was built between from 1926 to 1932 to commemorate those fallen from the First World War.[17] It features work by Prix de Rome winning artist, Emile Beaume and stained glass artist Louis Barillet.[17] It was registered as a monument in 2006.[18]

Other interesting visits are the early 20th century neo-gothic Saint-Germain church and the 19th century neo-Romanesque Saint-Jean church, and the covered market built in 1883 on a former cemetery.[19]

Notable people

[edit]

Born in Flers

[edit]

Twin towns

[edit]

Flers is twinned with:[22][23][24][25]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Commune de Flers (61169)". INSEE.
  4. ^ Climate of Orne Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine on the site Météo France (in French)
  5. ^ Flers, Flers promotion, 1991 p. 9
  6. ^ À la découverte de Flers - Le château p84
  7. ^ a b Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Flers, EHESS (in French).
  8. ^ À la découverte de Flers - Le château p. 24-25
  9. ^ "1944, la Bataille de Normandie, la Mémoire - Flers et Saint-Georges-des-Groseillers et Aubusson en Normandie 1944". Archived from the original on 22 June 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  10. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  11. ^ "Histoire de l'Aéroclub de Flers". Aéroclub de Flers-Condé. 6 March 2011.
  12. ^ "Flers - Saint-Paul Airport · 61100 La Lande-Patry, France". Flers - Saint-Paul Airport · 61100 La Lande-Patry, France.
  13. ^ "Flers Saint Paul - France". World Airport Codes.
  14. ^ "Rent a plane from or to Flers Saint Paul with l'Avion privé". en.lavionprive.fr.
  15. ^ "Musée du château de Flers FLERS". Normandie Tourisme.
  16. ^ "Ancien château à Flers - PA00110807". monumentum.fr.
  17. ^ a b "Chapelle de l'ancien petit séminaire dite Chapelle du Souvenir à Flers - PA61000042". monumentum.fr.
  18. ^ "Liste des immeubles protégés au titre de la législation sur les monuments historiques au cours de l'année 2006 - Légifrance".
  19. ^ "Le Marché couvert (La Halle)" [The covered market (the hall)] (in French). Office de tourisme du Pays de Flers. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  20. ^ "61 - PATRIMOINE FUNERAIRE DE L'ORNE : Etat des lieux - Cimetières de France et d'ailleurs". www.landrucimetieres.fr.
  21. ^ BONAMY, Raphaël (3 October 2023). "Football. L'ancien Angevin et Nantais Patrice Lecornu nous a quittés". Ouest-France.fr.
  22. ^ "24 jumelages franco-allemands dans l'Orne". Ouest-France.fr. 21 January 2013.
  23. ^ Halls, Judith (24 April 2023). "Special gift celebrates 50 years of Twinning - Warminster and Flers". Warminster Town Council.
  24. ^ François, Emmanuelle (24 June 2021). "Flers. Des projets pour l'association Flers-Poundou". Ouest-France.fr.
  25. ^ Guégan, Nicolas (20 May 2022). "Flers. Le jumelage avec Charleston, en Caroline du Sud, officialisé". Ouest-France.fr.
[edit]
Official local sites
Maps