[25] Regarding the external ornaments, the mural crown symbolises protection and happiness, the caduceus of trade and business, the olive tree of peace, the oak of strength, recalling the role of both the military and commercial port.

[37] In 1139, during the struggle for succession to the Anglo-Norman Crown, Cherbourg fell after two months of siege to the troops of Stephen of England before being retaken in 1142 by Geoffrey of Anjou, whose wife, Empress Matilda, three years later founded the Abbaye Notre-Dame du Vœu [fr].

After many delays, it was decided in 1779 to build a 4 km (2.5 mi)-long sea wall between île Pelée and the tip of Querqueville, using a method developed by Louis-Alexandre de Cessart, a pier of 90 wooden cones of 20 m (66 ft) by 20, filled with rubble, connected by iron chains.

), connected between them and the Saint-Martin Church by a network of paths, Octeville became chef-lieu of the canton in 1801 (Decree of 23 Vendémiaire, year X) and also its population, to increase by the influx of workers who came to build the port of Cherbourg and work at the Arsenal.

To welcome the best stopovers, the Chamber of Commerce built a deep water port, a new ferry terminal, and an area dedicated to loading, unloading and storage of goods in the field of Mielles.

[49] It was also the endpoint of the gasoline which crossed the English Channel via the underwater pipeline PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean), and the starting point of the Red Ball Express, truck transport circuit to Chartres.

Its rapid growth from the end of the 18th century was spoken of by Jean Fleury, in 1839, in that it "offers almost everywhere the appearance of a new town; the old streets occupy little space, and the others are generally large and airy, the fountains numerous [...].

Octeville, a dispersed habitat until the 18th century, and urbanised during the work of the port around a central street,[32] saw the housing estate of the Provinces settle on the heights of la Fauconniere and triple its population in 20 years.

[60] At Avenue Carnot, the former Grouard warehouses must leave room for parking and a place through from the wharf from the Quai de l'Entrepôt to the Pasteur Hospital, to 180 dwellings by Presqu'île habitat and ADIM (Vinci company) then 100 extra in a second round of development.

It is indicated that the port trade was based on exportation of mules to Réunion and the Antilles, salted meat of pigs and eggs in Britain, wine and brandies, and the import of Scandinavian, Polish and Russian wood, linseed, and hemp.

Redeemed, the factory specialised under the name of Thomson-CSF audiovisual in surveillance and medical cameras, then in the production of electronic circuits of computer terminals on behalf of Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie and the Arsenal.

Since 1976, it has been dedicated to the production of microwave electronic devices, employing 260 workers in 1979 contracted for radars of the Mirage F1 Army Air and of the Navy Super Etendards, rising to 400 employees at the end of the 1980s, after moving in 1987 into a new modernised factory in Tourlaville.

Project Fastship, involving container transport from Philadelphia (United States) by high-speed vessels and oped for fifteen years, has been forgotten in favour of the Motorways of the Sea in the context of the Ena (Eurocoast Network Association), with Cuxhaven (Germany), Ostend (Belgium), Rosslare (Ireland) and Ferrol (Spain), with no more effect at the moment.

With diesel Agosta submarines, developed since 1994 for Pakistan, and the Scorpène, in collaboration with the shipyards of Cartagena, sold to Malaysia, Chile and India, 25% of the total turnover of the establishment is of foreign origin.

The company diversified into large luxury yachts, without abandoning the military market, and has signed such contracts with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar through the Franco-Lebanese businessman Iskandar Safa, owner since 1992.

The urban community, the main commercial centre of the Cotentin, has four hypermarkets covering 26,780 m2 (288,300 sq ft)[23] - of which one, Carrefour (260 employees), located in the Cherbourg area, represents the third largest private employer of the commune - as well as several large specialist stores.

It sees a transformation of the newly amalgamated city through refurbishment of the pool and Port Chantereyne, development of the Bassins zone, filling the retaining channel, and the construction of the sailing school.

[125] In 1785, a sub-delegation [fr] was created, however it was smaller than the Viscountcy, essentially covering La Hague, as far as Héauville and included Helleville, Tourlaville, and Bretteville, Digosville and Martinvast, and always under the authority of the electoral district of Valognes.

A transatlantic port of the 20th century, Cherbourg saw Hollywood stars arrive, such as Charlie Chaplin, who organised his disembarkation in 1952 to a press conference in the gare maritime, critical of the McCarthyist America that he left.

The letters were not left with academician Georges Grente (1872–1959), superior of the Saint-Paul Institute, and Ernest Psichari (1883–1914), soldier and writer, whose garrison stay in Cherbourg in 1914 with the 2nd colonial artillery regiment inspires L'Appel des armes.

[141] Several donations were then made, including a legacy of 3,000 works by Augustin Asselin [fr] in 1844 (with twenty-six incunabula and a ninth-century manuscript De bello iudaico [The Jewish War] of Flavius Josephus, which remains the oldest document in the library) and a gift in 1877 from Jérôme-Frédéric Bignon, Mayor of Le Rozel and heir to the king's librarians.

The former barracks of the Abbey, dating back to the start of the works of the large dam in 18th-century, has housed one of the five regional centres of history of the National Navy, alongside Brest, Lorient, Rochefort and Toulon, since 1970.

Built in 1781 by Jacques Martin Maurice, "contractor of the King's works" in schist (cover and body of the building) and red brick (window frames), registered as a historical monument since 16 February 1965.

[153] Successively barracks of the Swiss, auxiliary Hospital of the work of the harbour, home of shipowners Richer, Cousin, Despréaux and Lias in the 19th century and a customs house during the interwar period, it is now the headquarters of the Groupe Caisse d'Épargne.

After restoration by Pierre Bataille of Poclain, they were each placed in 1990 and 1993 on a roundabout, the Minerva of Philippe-Laurent Roland, near the Cité de la Mer, the Themis of Jean-Antoine Houdon at the foot of the Montagne du Roule.

On the base, reads an excerpt from the Memorial of Sainte-Hélène, dated 15 July 1816: I had resolved to renew to Cherbourg the wonders of Egypt, i.e. a pyramid with central fort and a new Lake Moeris, for the outer harbour, dug into the rock.

[158] The monument of the Duke of Berry, in the Place de la République, commemorates the landing of the son of the future Charles X, back in France on the British frigate Eurotas on 13 April 1814, after the fall of the Empire.

[160] The monument to the dead of the Surcouf, inaugurated at the end of the marina pier on 23 September 1951 by General de Gaulle, commemorates the memory of 130 sailors from the Free French Naval Forces submarine, built at Cherbourg and which sank on 18 February 1942 in the Pacific.

Composed of four casemates for 105 mm (4.1 in) guns and a position for the direction of firing, with several tunnels and access dug into the rock, for the Germans it became the strong point of the fortresse de Cherbourg and of the Atlantic Wall.

[168] Cherbourg is also a training hub of the armed forces through the School of Military Applications of Atomic Energy [fr] (EAMEA), in charge of the joint education of military specialists in material sciences, of techniques and of nuclear safety and the École des fourriers de Querqueville, devoted to education of the officers of the three armed forces in business administration, management, human resources and the restoration to the training of specialists of the restoration of the national gendarmerie and the homes of the Navy staff.