Lessay

Lessay
Town square
Lessay
Location within Lower Normandy region Lessay
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Manche
Arrondissement	Coutances
Canton	Créances
Area1	28.95 km2 (11.18 sq mi)
Population (2013)2	2,243
• Density	77/km2 (200/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	50267 / 50430
Elevation	5–42 m (16–138 ft) (avg. 10 m or 33 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Lessay is a commune in the Manche department in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, the former commune of Angoville-sur-Ay was merged into Lessay.

Geography

Lessay is a small town in the centre of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy.

History

It was originally founded as a monastery but a town grew up around it over the years. The 10th century monastery is one of the greatest examples of Romanesque architecture in Normandy. It was partially destroyed by fighting in the town during July-August 1944.

Heraldry

The arms of Lessay are blazoned : Sable, a woodsman's axe palewise Or, blade to sinister.

Points of interest

• LORAN-C transmitter Lessay
• La Foire: the Sainte Croix fair of Lessay is a trade fair established in the 11th century in order to develop commercial activity in the village. For three days in the second week of September, 42 acres (170,000 m²) of Lessay is transformed into a marketplace, attracting over 400,000 visitors. The fair offers demonstrations of old and new trades, thousands of stalls selling a range of products from household equipment to animals, food, cars and garden and agricultural tools.
• Lessay was the location for the studio for English language commercial radio station Contact 94 which was aimed at the Channel Islands before they had commercial radio of their own. The station launched on 5 September 1988 and closed in 1991.

See also

• Communes of the Manche department