Les Pieux
Les Pieux is a commune with 3527 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011) in the department of Manche in Basse-Normandie region. It belongs administratively to the Arrondissement Cherbourg and Les Pieux Canton, whose capital it is. The inhabitants call themselves Pieusais.
Geography
The municipality is situated on the Cotentin peninsula, some 20 kilometers southwest of Cherbourg- Octeville, in the natural landscape of La Hague, and is bordered to the west by the English Channel. Neighboring municipalities are:
- Tréauville in the north,
- Benoîtville in the Northeast,
- Grosville in the east,
- Saint- Germain- le -Gaillard in the south,
- Le Rozel in the southwest and
- Flamanville in the northwest.
From Les Pieux from the Channel Islands of Guernsey in particular, but also Sark and Alderney can be perceived.
Toponymy
The name derives from the Latin podium, which means height.
The place Étangval in Les Pieux not come from the French Etang ( German: Pond ), but from the Anglo-Saxon stan ( cf. German: stone).
Economy
In the last thirty years, the population has due to the presence of a nuclear power plant strongly developed in the neighboring municipality Flamanville ( 185.7 % 1975-2006 ). Practically Les Pieux has become a small town. Because of the amount attributable to the nuclear industry windfall, the municipality has much better infrastructure ( transportation, sports hall, social assistance, etc. ) than other communities that are the same size.
Les Pieux is a municipality with a variety of faces. It is both a rural community with the typical Norman bocage, but also a modern, equipped with gyms and supermarkets town. It is also a tourist city with the small bay of Sciotot, between the granitic promontory of Flamanville and Le Rozel.
A kaolin deposit was developed from the 18th to the early 20th century. It supplied the porcelain factories of Valognes, Isigny -sur -Mer and Bayeux with the mineral.
Partner communities
- Lytchett Matravers, United Kingdom
- Weener, Germany