Mortrée () is a commune in the

Orne Orne (; or ) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019.department in north-western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. On 1 January 2019, the former commune Saint-Hilaire-la-Gérard was merged into Mortrée.

Geography

The commune of Mortrée is made up of the following villages and hamlets, Mortrée, Méhéran, La Grande Fosse and Saint-Hilaire-la-Gérard. Mortrée has a total of 10 water courses running through it, three rivers The Orne, La Senneviere and La Thouane. The other seven watercourses are all streams, la Gironde, The Aprel, The Ponts Besnard, La Forêt, The Renardieres, The Cercueil & the vallees. Parts of the commune is within the Normandie-Maine Regional Natural Park and

Forêt d'Écouves The Forêt d'Écouves (; eng. Écouves Forest) is a large area of woodland in the Normandy region of northern France. Location and topography The forest is located in the Orne département of France, north of Alençon, between the communes of Ca ...

. Mortrée along with another 65 communes is part of a 20,593 hectare,

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

conservation area, called the Haute vallée de l'Orne et affluents.

Notable buildings and places

* La carrière des Vaux is a Regional Nature Reserve that is 0.37 hectares in area, making it the smallest nature reserve in France. The reserve was a former quarry that contains many fossils from

Conodont Conodonts, are an extinct group of marine jawless vertebrates belonging to the class Conodonta (from Ancient Greek κῶνος (''kōnos''), meaning " cone", and ὀδούς (''odoús''), meaning "tooth"). They are primarily known from their hard ...

s that are naked to the human eye.

National heritage sites

The Commune has 3 buildings and areas listed as a

Monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

. *Château d'O a 15th century castle built by Jean d'O, captain of the Scottish guard of François I. *Logis a 15th century house used for accommodation, listed as a monument in 1995. *Saint-Pierre Church a 19th century church, listed as a monument in 2006.

Notable People

* René Hardy (1911 -1987) a

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

member was born here.

Heraldry

Town twinning

Mortrée is twinned with towns are: *

Shrivenham Shrivenham is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Faringdon. The village is close to the county boundary with Wiltshire and about east-northeast of the centre of Swindon. The 201 ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

– England.

References

Communes of Orne Nature reserves in France Monuments historiques of Orne {{Alençon-geo-stub