Avenay

Avenay
Commune
Tombstone in the old Fierville Church at Avenay
Location of Avenay
Avenay Show map of France Avenay Show map of Normandy
Coordinates: 49°06′07″N 0°27′32″W / 49.1019°N 0.4589°W / 49.1019; -0.4589
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Calvados
Arrondissement	Caen
Canton	Évrecy
Intercommunality	CC Vallées Orne Odon
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Françoise Paris[1]
Area 1	5.62 km2 (2.17 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	567
• Density	100/km2 (260/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	14034 /14210
Elevation	35–120 m (115–394 ft) (avg. 90 m or 300 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Avenay (French pronunciation: [avnɛ] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France.

Avenay is located some 12 km south-west of Caen just east of Évrecy. Access to the commune is by the D36 road from Sainte-Honorine-du-Fay in the south-west which passes through the heart of the commune and the village and continues north to join the D8. Apart from the village there is the hamlet of La Coquerie on the eastern border. The commune consists entirely of farmland.^[3]

The Guigne river flows along the northern border of the commune towards the east where it joins the Orne south of Bully.^[3]

The oldest traces of Avenay village date from Gallo-Roman times. In 1820-1821 some remains of Gallo-Roman houses were found. In the Middle Ages, the village depended on the Bishop of Bayeux.^[4]

In 1827 Avenay (336 inhabitants in 1821) absorbed Fierville-en-Bessin (68 people) in the east of its territory.^[5]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2021)

List of Successive Mayors^[6]

In 2017 the commune had 557 inhabitants. This table includes the population of Fierville-en-Bassin prior to 1827.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 390 —     1800 287 −4.29% 1806 402 +5.78% 1821 404 +0.03% 1831 435 +0.74% 1836 430 −0.23% 1841 433 +0.14% 1846 435 +0.09% 1851 395 −1.91% 1856 409 +0.70% 1861 398 −0.54% 1866 370 −1.45% 1872 345 −1.16% 1876 338 −0.51% 1881 314 −1.46% 1886 310 −0.26% 1891 289 −1.39% 1896 267 −1.57%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 238 −2.27% 1906 242 +0.33% 1911 257 +1.21% 1921 240 −0.68% 1926 239 −0.08% 1931 230 −0.76% 1936 232 +0.17% 1946 184 −2.29% 1954 210 +1.67% 1962 238 +1.58% 1968 293 +3.53% 1975 302 +0.43% 1982 372 +3.02% 1990 384 +0.40% 1999 406 +0.62% 2007 504 +2.74% 2012 524 +0.78% 2017 557 +1.23%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Source: EHESS[7] and INSEE[8]

• The Church of Mary of the Assumption (Reconstruction).
• Ruins of the Church of Fierville.^[9]
• The Chateau of Fierville (16th century).
• Pompierre Manor (15th century).

Each year, during the 3rd weekend in June, the Festival Committee of Avenay organises an inter-regional competition of bread.

One hundred bakers are judged every year. The competition focuses on different types of bread: Pain brié, Pain de campagne, traditional Baguettes, Croissants etc.

The jury, composed of baking professionals and consumers, use many criteria of quality and presentation.

The results are announced on Sunday afternoon at the fair in the village. The fair begins with a snack of Tripe at 9 am which brings hundreds of gourmands. The day continues with Mass and an exceptional sale of gold tripe.

On this day, the bakers make bread and pastries using bakery equipment and ovens installed specially for the festival. Visitors can buy bread made before their eyes.

The school fair is also held on the same day. On this occasion the students of the school perform several Norman dances in traditional costumes.

• Communes of the Calvados department

• Avenay on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (in French)
• Avenay on the 1750 Cassini Map

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Avenay.