Plouay (; ) is a commune in the

Morbihan The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...

department in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

in north-western France. Plouay hosts the GP Ouest-France and the

GP de Plouay GP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * Gameplanet (New Zealand), a New Zealand video game community * GamePolitics.com, a blog about the politics of computer and video games * ''GamePro'', a monthly video game magazine * Gold ...

, annual cycling races (a men's and women's race, respectively). It was also the location of the

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and , a UCI Road World Championships ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. The

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

has visited this town three times: in 1998, 2002 and in 2006.

Population

Inhabitants of Plouay or Ploue are called ''Plouaysiens'' in French and ''Plouead'' (''Ploueiz''), ''Ploueadez'' (-''ed'') in

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

Geography

Plouay is located in the west of Morbihan, northwest of

Hennebont Hennebont (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department in the region of Brittany in north-western France. Geography Hennebont is situated about ten miles from the mouth of the River Blavet, which divides it into two parts: the ''Ville Close' ...

and north of

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

. Historically, it belongs to Vannetais. The river

Scorff The Scorff (; ) River flows from central Brittany and enters the Atlantic Ocean on the south coast in Lorient. The Scorff rises north of Langoëlan, in the Morbihan department, and flows through the towns of Guémené-sur-Scorff and Pont-Scorf ...

forms the commune's western border. The area is hilly and forest-covered. Apart from the village centre, there are many hamlets in the commune.

Map

List of places

History

The oldest surviving parish registers date back to 1576. The marquis of Pontcallec had in the seventeenth century in the village of Plouay court, prison,

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. ...

and

gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...

with four pillars.

Breton language

The municipality launched a linguistic plan through

Ya d'ar brezhoneg (, ) is a campaign started in the 21st century by the () to promote and stimulate the use of the Breton language in daily life in Brittany, northwestern France. Breton is a Brythonic Celtic language which has fallen out of general use since the ...

on 10 February 2006. In 2008, 11.56% of the children in Plouay attended Breton-French bilingual classes in primary education. ''Ofis ar Brezhoneg''
''Enseignement bilingue''
/ref>

Gallery

Maison Marquis Plouay.JPG, The Marquis's house, maybe the oldest house in the village centre. Château de Manehouarn.jpg, Manehouarn castle. Plouay Saint-Ouen.jpg, The church of Saint-Ouen. 013 Plouay Chapelle Notre-Dame de Grâce.jpg, The chapel of Notre-Dame des Grâces. Chapelle Notre-Dame des Fleurs.jpg, The chapel of Notre-Dame des Fleurs.

Twin towns

Plouay is twinned with

Pershore Pershore () is a market town and civil parish in the Wychavon district in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. At the 2011 UK census, census, the population was 7,125. The town is best known for Per ...

in England.

References

External links

Cultural Heritage

Map showing location of Ploue in Breton

Mayors of Morbihan Association
Communes of Morbihan {{Morbihan-geo-stub