Cancale

Cancale Cauncall (Gallo) Kankaven (Breton)
Commune
Cancale, Port de la Houle
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Cancale
Cancale Cancale
Coordinates: 48°40′37″N 1°51′02″W
Country	France
Region	Brittany
Department	Ille-et-Vilaine
Arrondissement	Saint-Malo
Canton	Saint-Malo-1
Intercommunality	CA Pays de Saint-Malo
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Pierre-Yves Mahieu
Area 1	12.6 km2 (4.9 sq mi)
Population  (2021)	5,435
• Density	430/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	35049 /35260
Elevation	0–56 m (0–184 ft) (avg. 45 m or 148 ft)
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

Year	Pop.	±% 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%
2018	5,147	+0.51%
2019	5,226	+1.53%
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, it is well served by a large number of restaurants, many specialising in seafood. When not eating one can sit and watch the bustle of this busy little town with many stalls selling crustaceans of all types.

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

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

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Cancale is twinned with:

• Arnstein, Germany (since 7 September 1988)
• Saint Clement, Jersey (since 2010)

Historically, its position made it vulnerable to English attack during the Seven Years' War. In 1758 an English 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.

See also

• Communes of the Ille-et-Vilaine department
• Auguste Feyen-Perrin
• Jacques-Eugène Feyen
• The works of Jean Fréour Sculptor of statue depicting Cancale women washing oysters.

External links

• Official website (in French)
• Cancale Information and images (in English)
• Cultural Heritage (in French)