Lesneven

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Coordinates: 48°34′20″N 4°18′53″W / 48.57222, -4.31472

Commune of Lesneven

Lesneven
Location
Image:Paris_plan_pointer_b_jms.gif
Map highlighting the commune of
Coordinates 48°34′20″N 4°18′53″W / 48.57222, -4.31472
Administration
Country France
Region Bretagne
Department Finistère
Arrondissement Brest
Canton Lesneven (chief town)
Intercommunality C.C. du Pays de Lesneven et de la Côte des Légendes
Mayor Jean-Yves Le Goff
(2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation 14 m–79 m
Land area¹ 10.27 km²
Population²
(1999)
6,348
 - Density 618/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 29124/ 29260
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.
France

Lesneven (Breton: Lesneven) is a town and commune in Finistère, Brittany. It lies 24 km northeast of Brest, about 12 km from the English Channel in the middle of the Leon plateau. Its population was 6348 at the 1999 census.

Contents

[edit] History

Lesneven has its origins in the immigration from south-west England in the 5th and 6th centuries, and the name (Les-an-Even) means "court of Even" (or Llys-Ifan in Welsh) after an alleged military leader of that period[1]. Lesneven was the castle-town controlling Léon during the middle ages. The castle is now gone, but many buildings of the 15th-18th centuries are still to be found in the centre. The Museum of Léon is here. The town now functions as a market and service centre for the surrounding rural district.

Lesneven is twinned with the towns of Carmarthen in Wales and As Pontes in Galicia, Spain.

[edit] Demographics

Inhabitants of Lesneven are called Lesneviens.

As of the census of 1999, the town has a population of 6,348.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cotes des Legendes

[edit] External links