Deauville

Deauville
Bathing Time at Deauville-1865-Eugène Boudin.jpg
Bathing Time at Deauville, by Eugène Boudin, 1865
Deauville is located in France
Deauville
Administration
Country France
Region Lower Normandy
Department Calvados
Arrondissement Lisieux
Canton Trouville-sur-Mer
Mayor Philippe Augier
(2001–2008)
Statistics
Elevation 0–83 m (0–272 ft)
(avg. 5 m/16 ft)
Land area1 3.57 km2 (1.38 sq mi)
Population2 4,520  (1999)
 - Density 1,266 /km2 (3,280 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 14220/ 14800
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.

Deauville is a town and a commune in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie region of France. With its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and one of the most prestigious balneary station of all France. Since the 19th-century, the town of Deauville has been a fashionable holiday resort for the international upper class.[1]. Deauville is also a desired family resort.

Contents

History

Early history

The first reference to Deauville is in 1060. At this time the village was called A Enilla and was more of a fishing hamlet than a village. A Enilla comes from the Germanic Auwja Auwa meaning wet meadow. The village was originally up on the hill and a few houses were built next to the St Laurent chapel. Thanks to its situation near the coast, the village had a small harbour on the river Touques, of little importance.

Duc de Morny

Deauville or Dauville owes its greater prominence to the Duc de Morny. He described the village thus: Cité calme, aux rue désertes, elle forme avec Trouville, animée et bruyante, un contraste absolu. Mais ce manque de vie n'est, en réalité, qu'apparent, car des magnifiques propriétés, de même que les délicieux jardins qui les entourent, sont entretnus avec un soin on ne peut plus raffiné.

Heraldry

arms of Deauville

The arms of Deauville are blazoned :
Azure, on a pale argent 3 towers embattled gules, between 4 lion jambes (2 issuant from dexter bendwise sinister, 2 issuant from sinister bendwise) Or; on a chief gules a leopard Or, armed and langued azure.

Development

In 1855 land was being bought at 5 centimes/m²; in 1862 the same land was worth 1 Franc/m². The buyer had indeed bought marsh land and sold constructible land.

It was in 1858 that doctor Oliffe, who owned a villa in Trouville, decided to create a "town of pleasure" on the deserted sand dunes and in 1862 the first stone of today's Deauville was laid.

The duc bought 2.4 square kilometres of marsh land and dunes for 800,000 Francs. The Touques was still unchannelled but during the Second Empire the low tides permitted the construction of walls. In the 1860s visits by Napoleon III made the coast of Normandy adjacent to Deauville fashionable, and soon speculators developed the infrastructure necessary to accommodate members of the Imperial court and the growing Parisian bourgeoisie.

The railway arrived at Trouville-sur-Mer in 1863. Using the station called Trouville, passengers could reach Deauville in 6 hours from Paris. Morny, who had influence at Court, managed to persuade the aristocracy that staying on the coast would benefit their health. Land was bought and large villas, sometimes even palaces, were built. A casino and hotels soon followed and rich tourists came in their numbers. A common old joke among locals is that the wealthy bourgeoisie Frenchmen would keep their wife in Deauville and their mistress in Trouville, making light of the disparate socioeconomic statuses of the two neighboring seaside villages, Trouville being a working class fishing village and Deauville being home to exclusive shops and expensive real estate.

The locked harbour was dug up in 1866.

Deauville hardly suffered during the First World War. It was during World War II with the German Occupation that Deauville saw most of its leisure proprieties confiscated for use by the occupying force.

Modern times

During the 1960s, Deauville started to see more mass-market visitors. It still is now a haven for the rich and famous as well as holiday makers.

Horse breeding

Home to the Deauville-La Touques Racecourse, the countryside around Deauville is the main horse breeding region in France and home to numerous stud farms. As a result, the city is twinned with Lexington, Kentucky and County Kildare in Ireland, both of which are world leaders in breeding thoroughbred racehorses. The important Ventes de Deauville yearling auction is held in mid-August each year at Deauville.

Popular culture

Notable residents

Twinnings

Deauville is twinned with:

References

  1. ↑ http://www.firstforfrance.com/L4_Town.asp?t=471

Events

External links