Lessay is a small town in the centre of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy.
It was founded as a monastery but a town grew up around it over the years. The 10th-century Lessay Abbey is one of the greatest examples of Romanesque architecture in Normandy. It was largely destroyed by fighting in the town during July–August 1944, but has been rebuilt.
Arrêté préfectoral 28 September 2015 (in French) https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/arrete/2015/9/28/INTB1525665A/jo/texte ↩
Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-50267#ancre-POP_T1 ↩
Lessay et son canton à travers les siècles by Michel Pinel ↩