Mortrée

Mortrée
Commune
The chateau in Mortrée
Location of Mortrée
Mortrée Show map of France Mortrée Show map of Normandy
Coordinates: 48°38′25″N 0°04′44″E
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Orne
Arrondissement	Alençon
Canton	Sées
Intercommunality	Sources de l'Orne
Government
• Mayor (2021–2026)	Reine-Marie Puitg[1]
Area ^1	32.26 km^2 (12.46 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	1,125
• Density	35/km^2 (90/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	61294 /61570
Elevation	161–277 m (528–909 ft) (avg. 173 m or 568 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Mortrée (French pronunciation: [mɔʁtʁe] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France. On 1 January 2019, the former commune Saint-Hilaire-la-Gérard was merged into Mortrée.[3]

Geography

The commune of Mortrée is made up of the following villages and hamlets, Mortrée, Méhéran, La Grande Fosse and Saint-Hilaire-la-Gérard.[4]

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.[5]

Parts of the commune is within the Normandie-Maine Regional Natural Park and Forêt d'Écouves.[6][7]

Mortrée along with another 70 communes is part of a 20,593 hectare, Natura 2000 conservation area, called the Haute vallée de l'Orne et affluents.[8]

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.[9] The reserve was a former quarry that contains many fossils from Conodonts that are naked to the human eye.[10]

National heritage sites

The Commune has 3 buildings and areas listed as a Monument historique.

• Château d'O a 15th century castle built by Jean d'O, captain of the Scottish guard of François I.[11]
• Logis a 15th century house used for accommodation, listed as a monument in 1995.[12]
• Saint-Pierre Church a 19th century church, listed as a monument in 2006.[13]

Notable People

• René Hardy (1911 -1987) a French Resistance member was born here.[14]

Heraldry

Arms of Mortrée

The arms of Mortrée are blazoned : Ermine, on a chief indented gules an escallop Or.

Town twinning

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

Mortrée is twinned with towns are:

• Shrivenham, Oxfordshire – England.[15]

See also

• Communes of the Orne department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 4 May 2022.
2. "Populations de référence 2022" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 19 December 2024.
3. Arrêté préfectoral 28 September 2018, modified 12 November 2018 (in French)
4. "Mortrée · France". Mortrée · France.
5. Sandre. "Fiche cours d'eau - L'Orne (I2--0200)".
6. "rapport de charte" (PDF), parc-naturel-normandie-maine.fr/
7. "MASSIF FORESTIER D'ECOUVES ET SES MARGES" (PDF). ZNIEFF.
8. "INPN - FSD Natura 2000 - FR2500099 - Haute vallée de l'Orne et affluents - Description".
9. "Nature - THE QUARRY OF THE VAUX - Saint-Hilaire-La-Gérard". www.petitfute.co.uk.
10. "Géologique de Normandie-Maine | RESERVES NATURELLES DE FRANCE". www.reserves-naturelles.org.
11. "Château d'O à Mortrée - PA00110871". monumentum.fr.
12. "Logis à Mortrée - PA00135525". monumentum.fr.
13. "Eglise Saint-Pierre à Mortrée - PA61000049". monumentum.fr.
14. "RENE HARDY, LEADER IN FRENCH RESISTANCE IN WWII, DIES AT 75". Washington Post.
15. "Shrivenham Parish Council - Twinning". www.shrivenham.org.