Combourg

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Combourg
Komborn
Château de Combourg

Coat of arms
Combourg
Coordinates: 48°24′34″N 1°45′02″W / 48.4094°N 1.7506°W / 48.4094; -1.7506Coordinates: 48°24′34″N 1°45′02″W / 48.4094°N 1.7506°W / 48.4094; -1.7506
Country France
Region Brittany
Department Ille-et-Vilaine
Arrondissement Saint-Malo
Canton Combourg
Intercommunality Bretagne Romantique
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Joël Le Besco
Area
 • Land1 63.55 km2 (24.54 sq mi)
Population (2008)
 • Population2 5,572
 • Population2 Density 88/km2 (230/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 35085 / 35270
Elevation 29–120 m (95–394 ft)
(avg. 66 m or 217 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.

Combourg (Breton: Komborn, Gallo: Conbórn) is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France.

Population

Inhabitants of Combourg are called Combourgeois and, more rarely Combournais, in French.

Historical population
Year Pop.  ±%  
1810 4,170—    
1962 4,339+4.1%
1968 4,457+2.7%
1975 4,647+4.3%
1982 4,733+1.9%
1990 4,843+2.3%
1999 4,850+0.1%
2008 5,572+14.9%

History

Arthur Young, the English writer and economist, visited Combourg on his travels through France in 1788. He wrote of the town:

SEPTEMBER 1 [1788]. The country has a savage aspect; husbandry not much further advanced, at least in skill, than among the Hurons, which appears incredible amidst enclosures; the people almost as wild as their country, and their town of Combourg one of the most brutal filthy places that can be seen; mud houses, no windows, and a pavement so broken, as to impede all passengers, but ease none — yet here is a chateau, and inhabited; who is this Monsieur de Chateaubriant, the owner, that has nerves strung for a residence amidst such filth and poverty? Below this hideous heap of wretchedness is a fine lake, surrounded by well wooded enclosures.[1]

Chateaubriand commented later: "This M. de Chateaubriand was my father. The retreat that seemed so hideous to the ill-tempered agronomist was a fine and noble dwelling, albeit dark and solemn."[2] He did not comment on Young's description of the town.[3]

Personalities

François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) grew up in his family's castle, the Château de Combourg.

International relations

Combourg is twinned with Waldmünchen, in Bavaria, Germany.

Gallery

  • Place Chateaubriand

  • Train station

  • Maison de la Lanterne

See also

References

  1. ↑ Arthur Young (1792) Travels in France During the Years 1787, 1788, 1789 reprinted 1977, p99.
  2. ↑ François-René de Chateaubriand, Vicomte de Mémoires d'outre-tombe. 2 vols, Ed. J-C Berchet. 1889-92
  3. ↑ Graham Robb, The Discovery of France, Picador, 2007, p.90

External links

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