Donville-les-Bains

Donville-les-Bains
The beach at Donville-les-Bains
Donville-les-Bains
Location within Lower Normandy region  Donville-les-Bains
Coordinates: 48°50′48″N 1°34′52″W / 48.8467°N 1.581°WCoordinates: 48°50′48″N 1°34′52″W / 48.8467°N 1.581°W
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Manche
Arrondissement	Avranches
Canton	Granville
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes du Pays granvillais
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Jean-Paul Launay
Area^1	2.75 km^2 (1.06 sq mi)
Population (2006)^2	3,309
• Density	1,200/km^2 (3,100/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	50165 / 50350
Elevation	0–68 m (0–223 ft)
Website	www.ville-donville-les-bains.fr
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. ^2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Donville-les-Bains is a commune in the Manche department in north-western France.

Introduction

Donville-les-Bains is located just outside Granville, a port on the Norman coast noted for ferry traffic to the Channel Islands. Rail service is available from Granville to Paris on a regular basis provided by SNCF, the French National Railway. Donville les Bains is also the ancestral heritage town of the Dunville family (derivative: Donville), scattered throughout the UK and former British colonies, especially United States and Canada. People descended from this Norman line can be found in concentrations around Toronto (Donville), Thunder Bay, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, and South Carolina. The residents of Dunville, Newfoundland, are not related; the city was originally home to the Dunphy family.

Heraldry

The arms of Donville-les-Bains are blazoned : Gules, a sea-horse, and in chief a sun of 8 points Or. NB: this is a sea-horse 'monster' (a horse finned and with a fish tail), not a seahorse (the natural fish).

See also

• Communes of the Manche department