Last modified: 2021-06-20 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-76-pq.gif)
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-76-p1.gif)
Flag of Le Petit-Quevilly, current and former versions - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 14 January 2019, and Pascal Vagnat, 7 April 2004, respectively
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The municipality of Le Petit-Quevilly (22,134 inhabitants in 2016, therefore the 7th most populated municipality in the department; 435 ha; municipal website) is located just south of Rouen, across the river Seine.
Le Petit-Quevilly was founded in the early ages of the Duchy of Normandy but its precise origin remains obscure. The name Quevilly might come from Cavilliacum, the name of a Roman estate, or, more probably, from
queville, the name locally given to a wooden fence used to drive game.
The territory of Le Petit-Quevilly was then covered by the ducal forest of
Rouvray, whose southern part still exists. One of the neighbouring municipalities is named Le Grand-Quevilly. Here, the epithets Petit (small) and Grand (big) are not related to the respective size of the towns but to their distance to Rouen, Le Petit-Quevilly being located closer than Le Grand-Quevilly.
The domain of Le Petit-Quevilly was granted in 1035 to the abbey of Bec-Hellouin by its founder, Herlouin. In 1180, Henry II Plantagenet, King of England and Duke of Normandy, founded in the park of Rouvray the Royal House, a leper-house for young women. The house was closed in 1366 and subsequently suppressed, leaving only the St. Julian chapel. In 1207, King of France Philip II Augustus edicted the Charter of the Bruyères-Saint-Julien, which remained effective until the French Revolution. The St. Julian priory was built around 1600 by Cartusians.
Le Petit-Quevilly was granted Municipal Statutes in 1790, but the
development of the town started only in the 19th century with the
industrialization of the region. Pierre Malétra, a merchant from Rouen,
built in 1808 the Malétra factory, specialized in industrial equipement.
Malétra's flagship was an oven for burning pyrites, sold all over the
world. Pyrites (from Ancient Greek purithes lithos, "fire stone") is a
natural iron sulphur (FeS
The Buddicom factory was founded in 1841 in Le Petit-Quevilly. The first
locomotives and wagons used on the railway line Paris-Rouen, inaugurated
in 1843, were built there. The factory also produced sugar mills. The
locomotive factory was moved in 1845 to the neighbouring town of
Sotteville-lès-Rouen, which was located closer to the railway. In 1848, the soap manufacturer Lacour bought the factory and transformed it into
a soap factory which caused a great wrath in Marseilles, the traditional center of soap production in France. In 1875, soap production was
replaced by innovative chemical production of carbon sulphur and rubber,
directed by Herubel. The factory, which onced hired 850 workers, was
closed in 1988.
The cotton mill La Foudre was founded in 1842. Its name came from the
boiler used in the factory, which had been retrieved from the tugboat
La Foudre (The Lightning), sunk in river Seine. The factory
grounds were built by the English architect Fairbain and certified
fireproof. The factory was increased in 1859 by Pouyer-Quertier, who
hired 700 workers. The factory was closed in the 1930s and taken back by
the Army in 1938. All the remaining buildings have been recently
purchased by the municipality of Le Petit-Quevilly.
Ivan Sache, 7 April 2018
The flag of Le Petit-Quevilly (photo) is white with the municipal logo, The former flag, used until 2009 was white with the former logo that recalled letter "Q".
Olivier Touzeau & Pascal Vagnat, 14 January 2019
