Avenay

For the town in the Marne département, see Avenay-Val-d'Or.

Avenay
Tombstone in the old Fierville Church at Avenay
Avenay
Location within Lower Normandy region Avenay
Coordinates: 49°06′07″N 0°27′32″W / 49.1019°N 0.4589°W / 49.1019; -0.4589Coordinates: 49°06′07″N 0°27′32″W / 49.1019°N 0.4589°W / 49.1019; -0.4589
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Calvados
Arrondissement	Caen
Canton	Évrecy
Intercommunality	Évrecy-Orne-Odon
Government
• Mayor (2014–2020)	Jean-Louis Lechevalier
Area¹	5.62 km² (2.17 sq mi)
Population (2010)²	519
• Density	92/km² (240/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	14034 / 14210
Elevation	35–120 m (115–394 ft) (avg. 90 m or 300 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.

Avenay is a French commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region of north-western France.

Geography

Avenay is located some 12 km south-west of Caen just east of Évrecy. Access to the commune is by the D36 road from Sainte-Honorine-du-Fay in the south-west which passes through the heart of the commune and the village and continues north to join the D8. Apart from the village there is the hamlet of La Coquerie on the eastern border. The commune consists entirely of farmland.^[1]

The Guigne river flows along the northern border of the commune towards the east where it joins the Orne south of Bully.^[1]

Neighbouring communes and villages^[1]

Avenay

Vacognes-Neuilly

Maizet

Amayé-sur-Orne

History

The oldest traces of Avenay village date from Gallo-Roman times. In 1820-1821 some remains of Gallo-Roman houses were found. In the Middle Ages, the village depended on the Bishop of Bayeux.^[2]

In 1827 Avenay (336 inhabitants in 1821) absorbed Fierville-en-Bessin (68 people) in the east of its territory.^[3]

Administration

List of Successive Mayors^[4]

From	To	Name
	1850	Louis Touraille
1850	1860	Jean Labbé
1860	1863	Adolphe Viel
1863	1870	Pierre Gallet
1870	1872	Jean-Louis Londe
1872	1875	Edouard Accard
1875	1881	Gustave Feron
1881	1883	Pierre Sauvage
1883	1902	Jean-Louis Londe
1902	1909	Louis Lebrun
1909	1923	Émile Lemoine
1923	1937	Louis Lemonnier
1937	1945	Jean Barbot
1945	1977	Pierre Lecorsu
1977	1989	François Lecorsu
1989	1995	Lucien Martin
1995	2014	Gérard Lemoine
2014	2020	Jean-Louis Lechevalier

(Not all data is known)

Demography

In 2010 the commune had 519 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known from the population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. From the 21st century, a census of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger communes that have a sample survey every year.^{[Note 1]}

This table includes the population of Fierville-en-Bassin prior to 1827.

Population Change (See database)

1793	1800	1806	1821	1831	1836	1841	1846	1851
390	287	402	404	435	430	433	435	395

1856	1861	1866	1872	1876	1881	1886	1891	1896
409	398	370	345	338	314	310	289	267

1901	1906	1911	1921	1926	1931	1936	1946	1954
238	242	257	240	239	230	232	184	210

1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006	2010	-
238	293	302	372	384	406	-	519	-

Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1962, INSEE database from 1968 (population without double counting and municipal population from 2006)

Sites and Monuments

Tomb in the old Fierville Church

The Church of Mary of the Assumption (Reconstruction).
Ruins of the Church of Fierville.^[5]
The Chateau of Fierville (16th century).
Pompierre Manor (15th century).

Activities and events

Each year, during the 3rd weekend in June, the Festival Committee of Avenay organises an inter-regional competition of bread.

One hundred bakers are judged every year. The competition focuses on different types of bread: Pain brié, Pain de campagne, traditional Baguettes, Croissants etc.

The jury, composed of baking professionals and consumers, use many criteria of quality and presentation.

The results are announced on Sunday afternoon at the fair in the village. The fair begins with a snack of Tripe at 9 am which brings hundreds of gourmands. The day continues with Mass and an exceptional sale of gold tripe.

On this day, the bakers make bread and pastries using bakery equipment and ovens installed specially for the festival. Visitors can buy bread made before their eyes.

The school fair is also held on the same day. On this occasion the students of the school perform several Norman dances in traditional costumes.

Notes and references

Notes

↑ At the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of identification have been modified by Law No. 2002-276 of 27 February 2002, the so-called "law of local democracy" and in particular Title V "census operations" allows, after a transitional period running from 2004 to 2008, the annual publication of the legal population of the different French administrative districts. For communes with a population greater than 10,000 inhabitants, a sample survey is conducted annually, the entire territory of these communes is taken into account at the end of the period of five years. The first "legal population" after 1999 under this new law came into force on 1 January 2009 and was based on the census of 2006.

References

1 2 3 Google Maps
↑ Arcisse de Caumont, Monumental Statistic of Calvados, Hardel, Caen, 1846, Vol. 1, p. 129-131 (French)
↑ Communal Notice on Fierville-en Bessin (French)
↑ List of Mayors of France (French)
↑ Photo of the Church of Fierville on Ministryb of Culture Memoire database (French)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Avenay.

Communes of the Calvados department

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Avenay