Cancale

Cancale
Cauncall (Gallo)
Kankaven (Breton)
Commune
Cancale, Port de la Houle
Cancale, Port de la Houle
Flag of Cancale
Flag
Coat of arms of Cancale
Coat of arms
Location of Cancale
Cancale is located in France
Cancale
Cancale
Location within France
Cancale is located in Brittany
Cancale
Cancale
Location within Brittany
Coordinates: 48°40′37″N 1°51′02″W / 48.6769°N 1.8506°W / 48.6769; -1.8506
CountryFrance
RegionBrittany
DepartmentIlle-et-Vilaine
ArrondissementSaint-Malo
CantonSaint-Malo-1
IntercommunalityCA Pays de Saint-Malo
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Pierre-Yves Mahieu
Area
1
12.6 km2 (4.9 sq mi)
Elevation
45 m (148 ft)
Highest elevation
56 m (184 ft)
Lowest elevation
0 m (0 ft)
Population
 (2023)
5,672
 • Density450/km2 (1,170/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
35049 /35260
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Cancale (French pronunciation: [kɑ̃kal]; Breton: Kankaven; Gallo: Cauncall) is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is known as the birthplace of Saint Jeanne Jugan.

Population

Inhabitants of Cancale are called Cancalais in French.

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1968 5,019—    
1975 4,780−0.69%
1982 4,638−0.43%
1990 4,910+0.71%
1999 5,203+0.65%
2007 5,293+0.21%
2012 5,231−0.24%
2017 5,121−0.42%
2023 5,672+1.72%
Source: INSEE

Geography

Location

Cancale is located at the western end of the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, on the coasts of Ille-et-Vilaine (Côte d'Émeraude), fifteen kilometers east of Saint-Malo. The bay of Cancale is delimited by the pointe des Roches Noires in the south and the pointe des Crolles in the north.

Cartographic representations of Cancale
Carte OpenStreetMap.
Carte topographique.

Tourism

The Boat Builder's Yard, Cancale, Brittany

Cancale lies along the coast to the east of Saint-Malo. It is a picturesque fishing port popular with visitors, many of whom are drawn by its reputation as the "oyster capital" of Brittany. Though a small town, Cancale includes a large number of restaurants. Many of these restaurants specialise in seafood. There are many stalls and vendors located in this town as well, which can also sell various types of seafood and crustaceans.

The oyster market (marché aux huîtres) at the harbour at the end of Quai de l'Administrateur en Chef Thomas offers a wide variety of local oysters at producer prices. At low tide part of the vast oyster beds can visited.

There is a pleasant coastal path which permits a circular walk from the town to the Pointe du Grouin with views across the bay towards Mont Saint-Michel.

Eugène Feyen painted Cancale and the inhabitants with the oyster-picking Cancalaises for several decades around 1865–1908. Vincent van Gogh wrote that "Eugène Feyen is one of the few painters who pictures intimate modern life as it is really, and does not turn it into fashion plates".

John Singer Sargent featured Cancale in his works: Fishing for Oysters at Cancale and Low tide at Cancal Harbour Archived 1 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine

Oysters

Oyster farms in springtime

History has it that Louis XIV had his oysters brought to Versailles from Cancale. Centuries later, the farming of oysters is still a major activity in the port and there are oyster beds covering about 7.3 square kilometres easily seen from the pier at the harbour. These beds harvest about 25,000 tons of oysters each year.

Harvesting oysters from the pier at Cancale, 2005

International relations

Cancale is twinned with:

Historically, its position made it vulnerable to British attack during the Seven Years' War. In 1758 a British army under the Duke of Marlborough landed here for the purpose of attacking Saint-Malo, and pillaged the town. It was again bombarded by the English in 1779.

Climate

Climate data for Cancale (1981–1998 normals, extremes 1944–1998)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 16.0
(60.8)		 18.8
(65.8)		 21.2
(70.2)		 26.0
(78.8)		 27.2
(81.0)		 32.7
(90.9)		 36.2
(97.2)		 32.2
(90.0)		 31.4
(88.5)		 30.2
(86.4)		 19.2
(66.6)		 17.0
(62.6)		 36.2
(97.2)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 8.3
(46.9)		 8.3
(46.9)		 10.7
(51.3)		 12.3
(54.1)		 15.6
(60.1)		 18.2
(64.8)		 20.6
(69.1)		 21.1
(70.0)		 19.1
(66.4)		 15.7
(60.3)		 11.6
(52.9)		 9.3
(48.7)		 14.3
(57.7)
Daily mean °C (°F) 6.3
(43.3)		 6.1
(43.0)		 8.3
(46.9)		 9.7
(49.5)		 12.8
(55.0)		 15.4
(59.7)		 17.8
(64.0)		 18.4
(65.1)		 16.4
(61.5)		 13.3
(55.9)		 9.5
(49.1)		 7.3
(45.1)		 11.8
(53.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 4.2
(39.6)		 3.9
(39.0)		 6.0
(42.8)		 7.1
(44.8)		 10.1
(50.2)		 12.6
(54.7)		 15.1
(59.2)		 15.7
(60.3)		 13.8
(56.8)		 11.0
(51.8)		 7.5
(45.5)		 5.3
(41.5)		 9.4
(48.9)
Record low °C (°F) −10.6
(12.9)		 −9.0
(15.8)		 −4.2
(24.4)		 0.8
(33.4)		 1.0
(33.8)		 6.2
(43.2)		 10.0
(50.0)		 9.2
(48.6)		 6.6
(43.9)		 2.6
(36.7)		 −3.0
(26.6)		 −7.2
(19.0)		 −10.6
(12.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 65.2
(2.57)		 55.4
(2.18)		 47.5
(1.87)		 47.1
(1.85)		 57.7
(2.27)		 54.5
(2.15)		 39.7
(1.56)		 40.9
(1.61)		 65.1
(2.56)		 79.6
(3.13)		 69.4
(2.73)		 78.0
(3.07)		 700.1
(27.56)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 12.3 9.7 11.1 9.6 9.5 8.3 6.8 7.0 9.8 12.3 12.2 12.8 121.4
Source: Meteociel

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Populations de référence 2023" (in French). National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 18 December 2025.
  3. ↑ Population municipale entre 1968 et 2023, INSEE
  4. ↑ "Bienvenue - Marché aux huîtres Cancale". www.marcheauxhuitres-cancale.com. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  5. ↑ Fishing for Oysters at Cancale Archived 2012-09-22 at the Wayback Machine, Googleartproject.
  6. ↑ St Clement in Jersey twins with Brittany town
  7. ↑ Wikisource One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cancale". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 174.
  8. ↑ "Normales et records pour Cancale (35)". Meteociel. Retrieved 14 December 2024.