This article is about the town in France. For the needle lace originating here, see Alençon lace.
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The name of Alençon is first recorded in a document dated in the seventh century. During the tenth century, Alençon was a buffer state between Normandy and the Maine regions.
In 1049–1051, William Duke of Normandy, later known as William the Conqueror and king of England, laid siegeto the town, which had risen in support of the Count of Anjou along with two other towns of the Bellême estates, Domfront (then in Maine) and Bellême (held directly from King Henry I of France). According to Duke William's chaplain and panegyrist, William of Poitiers, the defenders of the fortress refused to surrender and mockingly waved animal hides from the castle walls, referencing William's lineage as the grandson of a tanner. In response, William had the hands and feet of 32 battle captives cut off, prompting a sudden surrender. Upon hearing of this event, the town of Domfront also surrendered.
Alençon was occupied by the English during the Anglo-Norman wars of 1113 to 1203.
The city became the seat of a dukedom in 1415, belonging to the sons of the King of France until the French Revolution, and some of them played important roles in French history: see Duke of Alençon. The French Revolution caused relatively little disorder in this area, although there were some royalist uprisings nearby.
A long-standing local fabric industry gave birth to the town's famous point d'Alençon lace in the 18th century. The economic development of the nineteenth century was based on iron foundries and mills in the surrounding region. In the first half of the twentieth century the city developed a flourishing printing industry.
Alençon was home to Sts. Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. They were the first spouses in the history of the Catholic Church to be proposed for sainthood as a couple, in 2008. Zélie and Louis were married at the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Alençon on 13 July 1858 and spent their whole married life in Alençon, where Thérèse was born in January 1873 and spent her early childhood until the death of her mother in 1877. Beatification of Louis and Zelie Martin - Saint Therese of Lisieux
After the war, the population rapidly increased and modern industries settled. Many of these were centered on plastics, and the town now contains a major plastics educational centre.
Geography
The river Sarthe flows through the town. In addition La Briante also flows through the commune.
Alençon along with another 32 communes is part of a 3,503 hectare, Natura 2000 conservation area, called the Haute vallée de la Sarthe.
Climate
Alençon benefits from an oceanic climate with mild winters and temperate summers.
Climate data for Alençon, elevation: 143m (469ft) (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1946–present)
Source 2: Infoclimat.fr (humidity and snowy days, 1961–1990)
Population
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1793
12,954
—
1800
12,407
−0.61%
1806
13,222
+1.07%
1821
13,955
+0.36%
1836
13,934
−0.01%
1841
13,917
−0.02%
1846
14,388
+0.67%
1851
14,760
+0.51%
1856
16,473
+2.22%
1861
16,110
−0.44%
1866
16,115
+0.01%
1872
16,037
−0.08%
1876
16,615
+0.89%
1881
17,237
+0.74%
1886
17,550
+0.36%
1891
18,319
+0.86%
1896
17,841
−0.53%
1901
17,270
−0.65%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1906
17,843
+0.65%
1911
17,378
−0.53%
1921
16,249
−0.67%
1926
16,044
−0.25%
1931
16,688
+0.79%
1936
17,731
+1.22%
1946
19,691
+1.05%
1954
21,893
+1.33%
1962
25,584
+1.97%
1968
31,656
+3.61%
1975
33,680
+0.89%
1982
31,608
−0.90%
1990
29,988
−0.66%
1999
28,935
−0.40%
2007
27,942
−0.44%
2012
26,305
−1.20%
2017
25,848
−0.35%
2023
25,490
−0.23%
Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968-2023)
Heraldry
Arms of Alençon
The arms of Alençon are blazoned: Azure, a double-headed eagle displayed Or.
Economy
In the seventeenth century, Alençon was chiefly noted for its lace called point d'Alençon.
Today, Alençon is home to a prosperous plastics industry, and, since 1993, to a plastics engineering school.
MPO Fenêtres is a local PVC window company established in Alençon in 1970, is one of the first company in Alençon with around 170 employees (2009) and a turnover of 28million euros in 2008. It is also the oldest French PVC window company still in business.
Social Housing
The Champ Perrier social housing complex, with its four high-rise buildings, was inaugurated in 1962 and is now facing significant social challenges.
Saint-Pierre church in the Montsor district is a church that was built in 1880, it features Mosaics made by the Facchina workshop, it was registered as a monument in 2006.
The Wheat Market (Halle aux blé) was built in 1812, featuring a 1000 m² glass dome, with a circumference of 110 metres, it was registered as a monument in 1975.
Psychiatric hospital was built in 1774, and initially built as a hospital for the sick, the destitute, the prisoners and the mentally ill. After the revolution it was turned into a prison, then becoming a hospice, before finally becoming a psychiatric hospital. It was registered as a monument in 1974.
Le Grand Cerf is a nineteenth-century hotel, that was registered as a monument in 2008.
Hotel Libert is a hotel dating back to the 18th century, registered as a monument in 1947.
Hotel Radigue is a hotel dating back to the 18th century, registered as a monument in 1960. The hotel was mentioned in the Honoré de Balzac novel La Vieille Fille.
Hôtel de la préfecture, formerly known as the Hôtel de Guise is a hotel (a hotel in France usually means a large building that now houses some sort of office, in this case the prefecture) dating back to the seventeenth century, registered as a monument in 1903.
The Hôtel de Ville dates back to 1788 and was registered as a monument in 1926.
Saint-Pierre de Montsort Presbytery is a former hotel that might have served as a presbytery, it was built in 1639 and was listed as a monument in 1958.
Saint-Léonard Lodging house is a seventeenth-century house, designated as a monument in 1975.
Pesche Pharmacy is a nineteenth-century building with neo-classical decor very characteristic of the 1820s-1830s, it was listed as a monument in 1987.
Tribunal de commerce is a fifteenth-century building used as a court house for Commercial matters, it was registered as a monument in 1958.
City Ramparts remains of the old sixteenth-century ramparts, reworked on in the nineteenth century, they were listed as a monument in 1971.
House of Ozé a fifteenth-century house, built entirely from granite. The house was registered as a monument in 1903, and now acts as the Tourist office for the Commune.
There are a further eleven private buildings and houses listed as monuments with the commune.
Former bus station - The bus station was built in 1958 and designed by architect Roger Vissuzaine, in 2007 it was awarded the Architecture contemporaine remarquable label.
Water tower - Designed by architect Maurice Novarina in 1964, in 2007 it was awarded the Architecture contemporaine remarquable label.
Moulinex Building - former building belonging to Moulinex and designed by architects Maurice Novarina in 1964, 2007 saw the building awarded the Architecture contemporaine remarquable label.
Education
Primary education
Alençon has 16 elementary schools (Écoles élémentaire, these are typical of France, see the article in the French Wikipedia), of which 12 are public and 4 are private.
Secondary education
Alençon has 6 colleges, 4 of which are public and 2 are private.
Alençon also has several lycées, some of which are public and some are private.
There is a training institute for teachers (Institut national supérieur du professorat et de l'éducation)
Transport
Alençon is linked by the A28 autoroute (motorway/freeway) with the nearby cities of Le Mans to the south (Sarthe) and Rouen (Seine-Maritime) to the north. The A88 autoroute links the A28 just north of Alençon to the coastal port of Caen.
The Alençon railway station offers regional services towards Caen, Le Mans and Tours. A comprehensive town bus system operates from 7:00 to 19:00.
Aérodrome d'Alençon - Valframbert is an Aerodrome within the commune which is also shared with neighbouring communes of Valframbert and Cerisé that opened in 1936. Its IATA airport code is XAN and its ICAO airport code is LFOF.
There is a comprehensive network of cycle paths.
Sport
Alençon has a football team US Alençon who play at the Jacques Fould stadium.
Hippodrome d'Alençon is a racecourse that specializes in Harness racing, it has been in operation since 1825.
Marie-Azélie Guérin Martin (1831–1877), the mother of St. Thérèse of Lisieux who, along with her husband Louis Martin, is one of the few married couples ever to be beatified by the Catholic Church.
↑The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, ed. and trans. E. van Houts, 2 vols (Oxford, 1992–95) vol. 2 p. 125
