Saint-Lô (, ; ) is a commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.Commune de Saint-Lô (50502), INSEE
Although it is the second largest city of Manche after Cherbourg, it remains the prefecture of the department. It is also chef-lieu of an arrondissement and two cantons (Saint-Lô-1 and Saint-Lô-2). The place name derives from that of a local saint, Laud of Coutances.
The commune has 19,471 inhabitants as of 2023 who are called Saint-Lois(es) in French. The names of Laudois(es), Laudien(ne)s or Laudinien(ne)s are also cited. A martyr city of World War II, Saint-Lô was decorated with the Legion of Honour in 1948 and was given the nickname "Capital of the Ruins", a phrase popularised by Samuel Beckett.The expression "Capitale des Ruines" is attributed to Bernard Jacqueline, former apostolic nuncio and erudite historian. It was taken over by Samuel Beckett in his text The Capital of Ruins of 10 June 1946.
Geography
Location
Saint-Lô is in the centre of Manche, in the middle of the Saint-Lois bocage, west of Caen, south of Cherbourg and north of Rennes.
The city was born under the name of Briovera on a rocky outcrop of schist belonging to the Armorican Massif, in the Cotentin Peninsula, between the confluences of the Vire – which dominates the city centre – with the Dollée and Torteron, two rivers channelled in their urban sections. This historic heart of the city became L'Enclos, a site well suited to passive defence.
The east of the territory is the former commune of Sainte-Croix-de-Saint-Lô, south of Saint-Thomas-de-Saint-Lô, absorbed in 1964.
Climate
Saint-Lô has a mild oceanic climate characterised by mild winters and temperate summers. It has an average annual rainfall of per year. Rainfall is quite frequent throughout the year but most abundant in autumn and winter, in connection with the disturbances coming from the Atlantic Ocean. Rarely intense, they often fall in the form of drizzle. The average temperature is . In winter, the average temperature ranges between . There are between 30 and 40 days of frost per year. In summer, the average temperature lies around .
Transport Saint-Lô is located in the centre of the department of Manche and is therefore a node of communication between Nord-Cotentin and southern Manche.
Road
Saint-Lô lies halfway along the Coutances–Bayeux axis (). A bypass road was commissioned in the 1980s to allow the decongestion of the city from the south. To open up the port of Cherbourg, the region and the department decided the construction of a dual carriageway, . It is a part of the European route E03 and enables direct connection to Rennes and Europe from the south, through the interchange at Guilberville. The southern section now connects Saint-Lô directly to the A84 autoroute, allowing motorway access to Caen and Rennes. The commissioning of the northern section, which is currently under construction, will meanwhile allow access to Cherbourg and England via the Route nationale 13. The construction of the dual carriageway allowed the extension of the small South ring road heading west and its mutation into genuine urban bypass. It has also enabled the creation and expansion of new business zones which contribute strongly to the current growth of the agglomeration.
Rail
The Gare de Saint-Lô is served by TER trains on the . It is in the majority of services for travellers in the direction of Caen via Lison or in the direction of Coutances. A few trains, two daily return trips, serve as far as Rennes via Avranches.
Following the electrification of the section of railway between Lison and Saint-Lô during 2006, the SNCF and local communities experienced a direct Intercités service (without change of train) to the Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris for two years, between December 2008 and December 2010. This service was not sustained due to a lack of sufficient number of passengers. There is also the disused former industrial line to Condé-sur-Vire. The section between Gourfaleur and Condé-sur-Vire, adjacent to the towpath along the Vire, is used by the Vélorail [rail cycle] of the Vire valley since 2007.
Urban transport network Urban transportation is provided by the Transports Urbains Saint-Lô Agglomération: TUSA (formerly Transport Urbains Saint-Lô Agneaux), was created in 1980. In 2010, the network consisted of four lines (Odyssée, Azur, Horizon and Alizé) with 15 buses and one Ocitolà transport on demand minibus. However, since 3 January 2011, it is composed of three lines (1, 2 and 3) still with 15 buses and one Ocitolà transport on demand minibus. In 2008, the company recorded more than 850,000 journeys.
On 15 May 2013, seven new vehicles were integrated with the fleet, namely five Cytios 4/44, and two Mercedes-Benz Citaro K BHNS. The total fleet is composed of a Renault Master B.20 (for the Ocitolà transport on demand), 5 Vehixel Cytios 4/44, 2 Mercedes-Benz Citaro K BHNS, two , five , and a .
A new vehicle wrapping campaign is underway, the yellow livery will disappear in favour of a red livery. Added to this, a campaign of improving vehicle facilities, to meet the new standards of accessibility of public transit, including on-board announcements and scrolling banners. The old Renault PR 100.2 (nos. 97205, 97207 to 97210) and (nos. 97211 and 97212) were scrapped.
Route Termini Main stops 1 Saint-Lô-Colombes <> Agneaux-Villechien / La Demeurance Commercial Centre Pasteur College, Manche Habitat, City Hall, SNCF railway station, CFA d'Agneaux, private establishment of the institute, Commercial Centre 2 Saint-Lô-Conseil Général <> Saint-Lô-La Madeleine Hospital, Lavalley College, SNCF railway station, City Hall, Cultural Centre, Sainte Croix Church, Commercial Centre, St. Jean Clinic, TUSA depot 3 Saint-Lô–Bois Ardent / Aquatic Centre <> Saint-Georges-Montcocq-Mairie Chevalerie business park, Commercial Centre, Corot & Curie schools, Bon Sauveur, SNCF railway station, City Hall, the Mont Russel Lift, Social Security, La Dollée quarter, Saint–Georges church, Saint-Georges town hall Ocitolà Transport on demand for the whole of the community of communes Baudre town hall, Pont-Hébert town hall, La Meauffe-Quartier du Pont, Rampan town hall, Ste-Suzanne town hall
Intercity transport network
The commune is associated with the departmental public buses () by the lines: 001 : Cherbourg-Octeville – Valognes – Carentan – Saint-Lô 002 : Coutances – Marigny – Saint-Lô 109 : Saint-Lô – Periers 113 : Villedieu-les-Poêles – Saint-Lô 117 : Guilberville – Torigni – Saint-Lô 303 : Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët – Vire – Saint-Lô – Lison 304 : Brécey – Villedieu-les-Poêles – Saint-Lô – Lison
Air and river transport Despite its status of prefecture, there is no airfield in the vicinity of the town. The nearest is that of Lessay, and for an airport, to join that of Caen-Carpiquet, Cherbourg-Maupertus or Rennes – Saint-Jacques.
Inland waterway transport on the Vire once existed with scows ensuring the transport of . It is no longer possible, due to lack of maintenance of the various equipment and the Vire.
History Saint-Lô has long been an important centre of the economy of Normandy. It has attracted the covetousness of neighboring nations, including England, resulting in many successive invasions. It lost its dominant position towards the end of the 19th century because it failed to take advantage of the first Industrial Revolution, which instead affected much of the predominantly peasant population. However, the decentralisation policy allowed the city to return to the foreground.
Briovère Originally called Briovera (meaning "Bridge on the Vire River" in Gaulish) (often written in French as Briovère), the town is built on and around ramparts. The town started life as a Gallic fortified settlement, occupied by the tribe of the Unelli of Cotentin. Briovere was conquered by the Romans led by Quintus Titurius Sabinus in 56 BC, after the defeat of their leader Viridovix at .. III, 17. Roman peace led the development of Gallo-Roman rural areas, on the model of the Roman villae rusticae as in Canisy, Marigny and Tessy-sur-Vire, whose names are based on the suffix -i, of location of Celtic origin *-i-āko-, and often composed with a Latin personal name, carried by a Gallo-Roman native. Then, the region was the scene of various Saxon invasions during the 3rd century. The Franks did not establish an administrative power there, although Briovera was nevertheless entitled to hammer coinage. Historian Claude Fauchet said, "the Coutentin, at the same time as our Merovingian kings, was inhabited by the Sesnes (Saxons), pirates, and seems to have been abandoned by Carolingians, as variable and too remote for correction by our kings, to the Normans and other plunderers of sea..."
Sainte-Croix Church was built in 300, said to be on the ruins of a temple of Ceres. p.275 Christianity grew quite late. There were only four before 511. Laud of Coutances, bishop in 525–565, had a residence here. After his death he was beatified and was particularly honoured by Briovera, which would have housed his tomb. A pilgrimage was conducted and the city took the name of Saint-Laud, and then the name Saint-Lô which has been known since the 8th century.
Middle Ages
The Bretons, led by King Salomon, began to occupy the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula from 836. Before their advances, in August 867, Charles the Bald gave Salomon the Comitatus Constantiensis, territory over which he had little influence. In 889, the Vikings travelled up the Vire and besieged Saint-Lô. Protected by solid ramparts built, according to tradition, in the early 9th century by Charlemagne, the town did not initially surrender. The attackers then cut the water supply, resulting in the surrender of the inhabitants. The Vikings massacred the inhabitants, including the Bishop of Coutances, and then razed the town. The seat of the diocese moved to Rouen. It was only in 1025 that Bishop Herbert decided to return to the walls of Saint-Lô and restore the episcopal see. Then, under Geoffrey de Montbray, the town experienced a great economic development, taking advantage of the Norman expedition in Sicily. Robert Guiscard, a close associate of Geoffrey, brought important loot to Apulia and Calabria, and it was thanks to this treasure that Geoffrey was able to rebuild Coutances Cathedral in 1056. Saint-Lô is famous for its goldsmiths and even Matilda of Flanders, the wife of William the Conqueror, ordered two candelabra for the .