Pont-Audemer

Pont-Audemer
Commune
Pont-Audemer: Rue de la République Pont-Audemer: Rue de la République
Coat of arms
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Eure
Arrondissement	Bernay
Canton	Pont-Audemer
Intercommunality	Pont-Audemer / Val de Risle
Government
• Mayor (2022–2026)	Alexis Darmois
Area1	14.66 km2 (5.66 sq mi)
Population (Jan. 2018)2
INSEE/Postal code	27467 / 27500
Elevation	2–115 m (6.6–377.3 ft) (avg. 9 m or 30 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.

Pont-Audemer (French pronunciation: ​[pɔ̃.t‿odmɛʁ]) is a commune in the Eure department in the Normandy region in northern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Saint-Germain-Village was merged into Pont-Audemer.

Geography

The commune is situated on the river Risle, 13 km upstream from its outflow into the Seine. It lies on the border between the regions Roumois and Lieuvin.

Population

The population data in the table below refer to the commune of Pont-Audemer proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Pont-Audemer absorbed part of the former commune of Saint-Agnan in 1835, Saint-Paul-sur-Risle in 1963 and Saint-Germain-Village in 2018.

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 4,599 —     1800 5,207 +1.79% 1806 5,386 +0.56% 1821 5,426 +0.05% 1831 5,305 −0.23% 1836 5,358 +0.20% 1841 5,497 +0.51% 1846 5,733 +0.84% 1851 6,310 +1.94% 1856 6,106 −0.66% 1861 6,136 +0.10% 1866 6,182 +0.15% 1872 6,124 −0.16% 1876 5,942 −0.75% 1881 6,168 +0.75% 1886 6,163 −0.02% 1891 6,084 −0.26% 1896 6,012 −0.24%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 5,908 −0.35% 1906 6,111 +0.68% 1911 6,123 +0.04% 1921 5,946 −0.29% 1926 5,953 +0.02% 1931 5,860 −0.31% 1936 6,279 +1.39% 1946 6,119 −0.26% 1954 6,724 +1.19% 1962 8,206 +2.52% 1968 8,969 +1.49% 1975 9,586 +0.95% 1982 9,750 +0.24% 1990 8,975 −1.03% 1999 8,981 +0.01% 2007 8,718 −0.37% 2012 9,011 +0.66% 2021 9,848 +0.99%
Source: EHESS and INSEE (2007-2021)

Sights

The commune was spared substantial damage to its historic buildings during the Battle of Normandy. Nowadays the half-timbered buildings and the canals running between them are a tourist attraction. The church of Saint-Ouen is noted for its Renaissance stained glass.

Personalities

• Laetitia Casta, supermodel, was born there in 1978.
• Hervé Morin, politician, former French Minister of Defence was born there in 1961.
• Alexis Vastine, boxer, was born there in 1986.

Transport

Pont-Audemer has a railway station, Gare de Pont-Audemer, but passenger services were ceased in 1969. The station is served by TER Haute-Normandie buses. PontAuRail, a heritage railway association, ran two Diesel multiple units (a X4500 and a X2400) from Pont-Audemer to Honfleur between 1995 and 2006.

Administration

Until 1926, Pont-Audemer was a sub-prefecture of the Eure department.

Media

The city is evoked in a poem of Paul Verlaine called "The Apollo of Pont-Audemer." The area is included in Ted Fahrenwald's book "Bailout Over Normandy: A Flyboy's Adventures" as the site where he met Riri, his sweetheart.

Twin towns - sister cities

Pont-Audemer is twinned with:

• Ringwood in England
• Veghel in the Netherlands

Gallery

• Pont-Audemer Place Louis Gillain R01.jpg

  Place Louis Gillain

• Pont-Audemer Monument aux Morts R02.jpg

  War memorial

• 

  Train station

• 

  The X2426 at Pont-Audemer Station

See also

• Communes of the Eure department