Avranches

Avranches (anc. Abrincata), a French town in the department of Manche, situated on the slope of a hill on the left bank of the Sée, near its mouth in St Michel's Bay, 37 miles E. of St Malo by rail. Till 1801 a bishop's seat, its former cathedral was built in the 18th century on the site of a cathedral consecrated in 1121, in which Henry II. received absolution for Becket's murder. Avranches has manufactures of lace, candles, and salt, and some trade in cider, grain, butter, cattle, &c. Pop. 7764.