Plumelec

Plumelec Pluveleg
The Church of Saint-Maurice, in Plumelec
Coat of arms
Location of Plumelec
Country	France
Region	Brittany
Department	Morbihan
Arrondissement	Pontivy
Canton	Saint-Jean-Brévelay
Intercommunality	Saint-Jean-Brévelay Communauté
Government
• Mayor (2014—2020)	Stéphane Hamon
Area 1	58.36 km2 (22.53 sq mi)
Population  (1999)	2,337
• Density	40/km2 (100/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	56172 /56420
Elevation	27–165 m (89–541 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Plumelec (Template:IPA-fr, Template:Lang-br) is a commune in the Morbihan department of the Brittany region, in north-western France.

The name of its people is Méléciens.

Geography

Plumelec is 95 kilometres (59 mi) west of Rennes via the RN24 road, and 132 kilometres (82 mi) north-west of Nantes via the RN165 road. The commune is situated on the Brittany peninsula and is approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the southern coast.

Toponymy

The Plumelec placename is composed of plou (Parish) and Melec, patron of Plumelec (possibly Mellitus or Mellit via worship imported from the British Isles).

History

During World War II, on the night of 5-6 June 1944, the SAS Captain Marienne (9 Free French), responsible for the preparation of Operation Dingson, was accidentally parachuted near Plumelec, 800 metres (2,600 ft) from the Grée la Mill, where there was a German observation post. During the skirmish that ensued, corporal fr was killed: He was the first death of Operation Overlord.

On 12 July 1944 at dawn, 18 resistance fighters were murdered by French collaborators at Kerihuel: Seven paratroopers, eight rebels and three farmers (including Messrs. Alexandre and Rémi Riaan, father and son, 46 and 18 years old, and Mr. Ferdinand-Mathurin Danet, 49 years and Henri Denoual). Captain Pierre Sagar, nicknamed the "lion" of Saint Marcel after the battle of 18 June, was one of the victims. Three weeks later, on Sunday 6 August, was the Liberation, American tanks travelled through in the direction of Vannes and Lorient.

In all, there were 42 men from Plumelec and one woman (Ms. Armande Morizur, 35 years), engaged in the Resistance, who gave their lives for the Liberation.

The last survivors of the massacre of Kerihuel have since died, Ms. Angèle Guillaume (née Riaan), died on 2 November 2011, at the age of 81. Roger Danet, son of Ferdinand-Mathurin, died in January 2013 and his brother Augustin Danet, aged 8 years old at the time of the event, passed away in February 2014.

Politics and administration

List of mayors

List of mayors of Plumelec

Start	End	Name	Party	Other details
March 2001	March 2014	Léon Guyot	DVD	Butcher
March 2014	In progress	Stéphane Hamon	DVG	Owner of a bar-restaurant in the commune

Population and society

The inhabitants of Plumelec are called in French Méléciens.

Demography

In 2012, the commune had 2,732 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the population censuses carried out in the commune since 1793. From the 21st century, real censuses of communes with less 10,000 population are held every five years, unlike other communes which have a sample survey each year.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% 1793 2,551 —     1800 2,513 −1.5% 1806 2,503 −0.4% 1821 2,507 +0.2% 1831 2,627 +4.8% 1836 2,663 +1.4% 1841 2,732 +2.6% 1846 3,092 +13.2% 1851 3,070 −0.7%	Year Pop. ±% 1856 2,988 −2.7% 1861 3,082 +3.1% 1866 3,184 +3.3% 1872 3,060 −3.9% 1876 3,101 +1.3% 1881 2,992 −3.5% 1886 3,068 +2.5% 1891 3,130 +2.0% 1896 3,043 −2.8%	Year Pop. ±% 1901 3,048 +0.2% 1906 2,998 −1.6% 1911 2,988 −0.3% 1921 2,787 −6.7% 1926 2,758 −1.0% 1931 2,732 −0.9% 1936 3,004 +10.0% 1946 2,953 −1.7% 1954 2,733 −7.5%	Year Pop. ±% 1962 2,529 −7.5% 1968 2,498 −1.2% 1975 2,410 −3.5% 1982 2,355 −2.3% 1990 2,337 −0.8% 2005 2,501 +7.0% 2006 2,531 +1.2% 2010 2,685 +6.1% 2012 2,732 +1.8%
From 1962 to 1999: Population without double counting; for the years following: municipal population. Source: Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1999 then INSEE from 2004

Sport

Cycling

Main article: Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan

Many cycling races pass through or arrive by the fr, which presents a mean slope of 6.2% at Plumelec and a vertical ascent of 43–154 metres (141–505 ft) over 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi). This is why the most prestigious cycling races, such as the Tour de France and the French National Road Race Championships, retain Plumelec as a place of passage and arrival.

The commune is also the mainstay of the Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan, a one day race held since 1974. This is an event which counts towards the French Road Cycling Cup, it has been classified as 1.1 in the UCI Europe Tour since 2005.

Tour de France

• 1982 - Stage 9 (69 kilometres (43 mi) TTT) on 12 July, Lorient-Plumelec, won by team TI-Raleigh (Netherlands)
• 1985 - Prologue (6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi) ITT) on 28 June, Plumelec-Plumelec, won by Bernard Hinault (France)
• 1997 - Stage 3 on 8 July, Vire-Plumelec, won by Erik Zabel (Germany)
• 2008 - Stage 1 on 5 July, Brest-Plumelec, won by Alejandro Valverde (Spain)
• 2015 - Stage 9 on 12 July, Vannes-Plumelec

French Road Championship

• 1973 - won by Bernard Thévenet
• 1979 - won by Roland Berland
• 2003 - won by Didier Rous

French Road Cycling Cup

• 2008 - 31 May, Grand Prix de Plumelec, won by Thomas Voeckler (France)

Football

• La Mélécienne de Plumelec (and Coeur de Lanvaux) can be found in the District 2 championship

Basketball

• Plumelec Basket Club

Local culture and heritage

Places and monuments

The commune contains eight monuments listed in the inventory of historical monuments and two places listed in the fr.

Other monuments

The well of Touche-Berthelot of the 16th century, located at the way of the cross of Callac has been registered since 14 October 1963. The edge of this has the shape of an octagon with all the prominent angles cornered by pilasters. Four square tiles, placed diagonally to the coping, bear sculptures in high relief with heraldic subjects. They are topped with two crossed arches of wrought iron on which hangs the pulley.

The fountains of Saint-Aubin and Saint-Melec are also present, as are the monument of Kerihuel (12 July 1944 Massacre) and the Cave of Callac (1948, Saint-Joseph).

• 
  fr well, 16th century
• 
  Fountain of Saint-Maurice, Saint-Aubin
• 
  Grotte de Callac (Cave of Callac), 1948

Language

The commune was Breton-speaking until the 1850s (according to the dictionary of Ogée). Today, people mainly speak French and Gallo. In 1806, according to the survey conducted by fr, the commune was also noted as Breton-speaking.

Notable people

• Frédéric Sammaritano, football player for AC Ajaccio in Ligue 1.
• fr, Corporal in the SAS paratroopers, first death of the Normandy landing.
• fr (1907-1970), known as le manchot [the penguin] during WWII: Commander in the fr with the SAS when he parachuted into Brittany, then member of Parliament for Paris, was bured in the cemetery.
• fr, singer-songwriter of Indie folk. Played in Brittany at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient (2013), fr (2012) and the Vieilles Charrues Festival (Scène Kerouac with The fr, 2014).

See also

• Communes of the Morbihan department

References

• Mayors of Morbihan Association Template:Fr icon
• INSEE commune file

External links

• Official website Template:Fr icon
• French Ministry of Culture list for Plumelec Template:Fr icon
• Map of Plumelec on Michelin Template:En icon