History
Located on the outskirts of Bordeaux, Lormont has always been a prosperous village, fishing port, and a place for the transit of goods and people.
In 778, Charlemagne and Roland founded the Church of St. Martin. Around the year 1000, the Dukes of Aquitaine built the first château de Lormont where Eleanor of Aquitaine stayed. The northern half of Lormont in 1152 became a sauveté (Lordship) of the Archbishops and would have accommodated the princes of England, while the other half is establishing itself dependent provost of Bordeaux.
In 1308, Pope Clement V resided at the château de Lormont where Richard II was born, the son of the "Black Prince" in 1367. The town prospered and lived well with their vineyards, fishing and ferrying passenger from the port. Nevertheless, famine, pestilence and invasion of a Spanish fleet devastated the city. In 1570, Protestants burnt the Village, the church and the Hermitage.
In 1751, the Intendant Tourny opened the road to Paris. Lormont became one of the most important communities of Bordeaux. The first French commercial steamboat called the "Garonne" was built in August 1818 by Chaigneau. They then employed 1,000 workers and built 500 within a century to become the "chantiers de la Garonne" in 1882. After the lines of the TER where opened, in 1901, Lormont played host to the first tramway at the place du port which allowed the Bordelais discover the city.
By the 19th century, the Bordelais used to travel to Lormont for a day of leisure on Sunday afternoons.
During the 1960s Lormont was subject to a grand industrialisation which doubled the size of the population. This decade saw the construction of the large housing blocks in the Carriet Génicart and the '4 Pavilions' shopping centre, the inauguration of the Pont d'Aquitaine, the opening of school, sports, cultural and associative infrastructure. Large industries like Siemens and Ricard also took up residency in the area.
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