Fougères

Sister cities

• Ouargaye
• Somoto
• Ashford
• Bad Münstereifel

History

Fougères is a town on the edge of Brittany, Maine and Normandy and is named after the french term for a fern (see also fougère), or from fous which means fossé ("gap"). The town of Fougères is mentioned in the chorus of the song La Blanche Hermine by Gilles Servat. The author uses it as a symbol of the Breton resistance where it is adjacent to the town of Clisson in the Loire-Atlantique. Fougères is historically, since the arrival of Latin in Armorica, a region where Gallo is spoken. In Gallo, Fougères translates to Foujerr while its Breton name is Felger. Entry signs to the agglomeration have carried the Breton name for several years. One of the two bagad of the city takes this name: and the Diwan school, opened in 2013, is also called Skol Diwan bro Felger. The presence of many megalithic monuments, particularly in the , suggests that the area was already inhabited in the Neolithic era (5000 to 2000 years BC). The creation of Fougères dates back to the Middle Ages. The Château de Fougères was first mentioned around the end of the 10th century. At the time, it was a simple wooden fortification located on a rocky ridge, whose position favourably dominated the Valley and the surrounding marshes. Fougères was at the crossing of two Roman roads, one from Chartres to Carhaix and the other from Avranches to Nantes. From the 12th century, the population moved away from the shore of the Nançon and the city grew in size, divided into two parishes: Saint-Sulpice for the lower town and Saint-Léonard for the upper town. Since the Middle Ages, crafts developed around tannery, weavers and drapers in the lower town. Built in the 11th century by the lords of Fougères, the first fortification, defended by Raoul II (1130–1194), was taken by Henry II of England in 1166 and…

Geography

Fougères is situated in the Cadomian chain. The oldest buildings use readily available stone: la cornéenne. A metamorphic rock, difficult to cut and of very different appearance, it is very solid. Later came the use of Louvigné granite, which is more homogeneous. Most of the buildings of the town are built with these local materials. It took the arrival of the railway to import other stones (late 19th century). In military strategy, note that the castle is not on high, but on a deposit of la cornéenne, which prevents the risk of attacks by mining and from underground. Fougères is situated: * from Paris * from Rennes * from Mont-Saint-Michel * from Saint-Malo * from Brest * from Nantes * from Caen * from Angers * from Laval * from Avranches * from Alençon

Most-observed species

• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,549
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,100
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  853
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  723
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  489
• European Greenfinch

  Chloris chloris (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  477
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  274
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  264

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2017-09-28
  1 km WNW of Tresbœuf, France
• M 2.5 — 2008-09-19
  2 km NNE of Montigné-le-Brillant, France
• M 2.6 — 2008-08-28
  3 km E of Mauron, France
• M 2.6 — 2008-05-25
  5 km ESE of Saffré, France
• M 2.7 — 2008-01-31
  2 km SE of Saint-Berthevin, France
• M 2.9 — 2007-12-18
  2 km NE of Saint-Marc-le-Blanc, France