Avranches Attractions

Avranches (pop. 8,509) is prettily situated above the river Sée. At a council held here in 1172 Henry II of England, having done penance, received absolution for the murder of Thomas Becket. A tablet in the gardens of the Sous-Préfecture, in Place Daniel-Huet, marks the spot where Henry begged for forgiveness. The cathedral of Avranches was destroyed during the French Revolution. Avranches was in the thick of the fighting in 1944, and was the starting point of General Patton's advance in July of that year. From the Jardin des Plantes (Botanical Garden) there are magnificent views of the estuary of the Sée and the Baie du Mont St-Michel. The town hall possesses important manuscripts of the eighth-15th centuries concerning the Mont St-Michel.