Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray () is a

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

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...

department in the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

region in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

History

Evidence of ancient habitation has been found on and around the site of modern-day Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray including

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

tools (dated to 2000 years BC) as well as signs of Gallo-Roman settlements (200–300 years AD). A hamlet called Sancti Stephani and dependent on the

Abbey of Saint-Wandrille Fontenelle Abbey or the Abbey of St. Wandrille is a Benedictine monastery in the commune of Rives-en-Seine. It was founded in 649 near Caudebec-en-Caux in Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France. First foundation It was founded by Wandregisel or S ...

was reported in the ninth century in a royal charter. The village then developed along the road connecting

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to Rouen. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the parish had five hundred inhabitants. The population grew, benefiting from arable land near the river, as well as rich forests, moors and grasslands. During the Revolution, in 1790, Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray was constituted as a political administration. The town began to take its urban and industrial character from the mid-nineteenth century with the beginning of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

and the arrival of the railway. The first steam trains of Western Railway Company between Paris and Rouen began service in 1843, increasing the attractiveness of the town for industry. The 1860s saw the establishment of a large cotton factory creating hundreds of jobs, and led to the expansion of the town to accommodate its expanding workforce. In the early twentieth century, the opening of the railway workshops of Quatre-Mares (1913), the arrival of

Camille Cavallier Camille Cavallier (19 May 1854 – 10 June 1926) was a French industrialist who directed the Pont-à-Mousson iron works in Lorraine in the first quarter of the 20th century, specializing in making cast iron pipes. He came from a poor family but ob ...

's Fonderie Lorraine in 1916 and the Stationery Chapel (1928) reinforced the industrial character of the city. Prince Karl Friedrich of Hohenzollern He fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as an aviator between 1914 and 1917. He commanded Fliegerabteilung (Artillerie) 258, an artillery spotting unit, but flew patrols in a single-seat fighter with Jasta Boelcke whenever possible. During one such patrol on March 21, 1917, he was forced to land because of a bullet in his engine and with a slight wound to his foot. He landed his Albatrosaircraft in no-man's land, but while running towards his own lines he was shot in the back and severely wounded by Australian troops. He was taken into captivity, where he died from his injuries on 6 April 1917 at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. In 1923, three years after the

Tours Congress The Tours Congress was the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers' International, or SFIO, which took place in Tours on 25–30 December 1920. During the Congress, the majority voted to join the Third International and create ...

which saw the separation of the communist majority (KIS) and the minority Socialist (SFIO), Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray became one of the first cities in France to elect a communist controlled council. On 26 July 2016 two knife-wielding men, supporting the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

, burst into a 16th-century church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, took five hostages and killed an 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest, the Reverend Jacques Hamel, before they were shot and killed by the BRI police."Teenagers who killed French priest made film declaring allegiance to Isis", by Kim Willsher, ''The Guardian''
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Geography

Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray is a large suburban town of

light industry Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industry and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced for ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

situated by the banks of the Seine, some south of the centre of Rouen on the D18 and the D18e roads. The commune is served by the Rouen tramway.

Heraldry

Population

Twin towns

Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray is twinned with

Nordenham Nordenham () is a town in the Wesermarsch district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located at the mouth (on the west bank) of the Weser river on the Butjadingen peninsula on the coast of the North Sea. The seaport city of Bremerhaven is located ...

(Germany),

Nova Kakhovka Nova Kakhovka ( uk, Нова́ Кахо́вка, ; russian: Новая Каховка) is a city in the central Kakhovka Raion region of Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine currently under Russian occupation. Nova Kakhovka is an important po ...

(Ukraine), and Gateshead, Tyne and Wear (UK).

Education

The engineering College École supérieure d'ingénieurs en technologies innovantes is located in the city.

Places of interest

*The sixteenth-century church of St Étienne. *The church of St Thérèse. *The twentieth-century church of Notre-Dame. *"Le Rive Gauche" cultural centre. *The

Technopole A technopole, commonly referred to as a high-technology cluster or tech hub, refers to a center of high-tech manufacturing and information-based quaternary industry. The term was coined by Allen J. Scott in 1990 to describe regions in Southern C ...

at Madrillet. *The fifteenth-century

manorhouse A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals wi ...

du Madrillet, in the forest.