Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer ( br, Lokmaria-Pornizh) is a former

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Pays de Retz The Pays de Retz (; br, Bro-Raez, link=no; ) is a historical subregion of France that currently forms part of the Loire-Atlantique department, but which previously formed part of the Duchy of Brittany. The area lies between the southern shore of ...

, situated in the

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' and in the French

région France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (french: régions, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collect ...

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

. From 1973, it was absorbed by the neighbouring commune of

Pornic Pornic (; ''Pornizh'' in Breton, ''Port-Nitz'' in Gallo) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. In 1973 the commune of Pornic absorbed the neighbouring municipalities of Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and Clion-sur-Mer. Populat ...

and from 1 July 2007 it became a subdivision of this commune. The commune forms a part of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

, in the traditional county of Retz and in the historical Pays Nantais. The inhabitants of Sainte-Marie are known as the ''Sanmaritains'' and ''Sanmaritaines''.

Geography

Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer is a market town on the

Côte de Jade The Jade Coast (french: Côte de Jade) constitutes the coastal fringe of the Pays de Retz in Loire-Atlantique, extending from the Loire estuary in the north to the Marais breton in the south, thus bordering the Bay of Bourgneuf on its southern par ...

, with a jagged coastline strewn with

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

History

At one time, during the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

, Sainte-Marie was known as ''Roche-Peltier''. The commune of Sainte-Marie was attached to that of

on 1 June 1973 (under the terms of the Marcelin law of 16 July 1971). On 16 May 2006 the Sanmaritains voted for the complete amalgamation of the communes of Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and

with 50.83% of the vote in favour (with a difference of just 47 votes out of more than 2800 voters). In effect, from 1973, Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer possessed a status of associated commune with Pornic and removed the deputy mayor of Sainte-Marie, Jean-François Cossé who had opposed the amalgamation of the two communes. On 1 July 2007, after the acceptance by the prefect of the amalgamation of the communes of Pornic and Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer, the latter lost its status as associated commune and became a subdivision of Pornic .

List of mayors

Abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is the title for lowe ...

Beaudouin -1823 *Bodin des Plantes 1823- *Edouard Thomas -1828 *François Raffin 1828- (maire provisoire) *Edouard Thomas -1852 *René Laraison 1852-1870 *Michel Picot 1870-1884 *François Maurice 1884-1886 *Jules Galot 1886- *Guillon Constant 1886- *Souchlaud *Bézier *Rouhaud After the amalgamation with the town of Pornic, Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and the aforementioned Pornic came to represent a single electoral zone.

Demographics

Places and monuments

* Sainte-Marie church * Le chateau de La Mossardière * Commonwealth war graves in ''Ste. Marie Communal Cemetery''

People from Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer

* René Babonneau

Resiting of the market

Since the end of March 2007 the market was moved creating a heated debate between tradesman, customers and the town hall. In the Courier of the Pays de Retz of 5 April 2007 the writer of the article spoke of a toxic atmosphere in the town.

References

¹ - Source : Ouest France.

External links

Infobretagne.com - History of Pornic, Sainte-Marie and Clion

Notes

*''This article is based on the equivalent article from the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has article ...

, consulted on March 6th 2008.'' Former communes of Loire-Atlantique Pornic {{LoireAtlantique-geo-stub