Lillebonne

Lillebonne: donjon

Lillebonne, town, Seine-Maritime département, Normandy région, northwestern France, lying north of the Seine River and east of Le Havre. The Romans called it Juliobona. Under Roman rule in the 2nd century it had baths and a great theatre; materials from the theatre were used to build fortifications during the Middle Ages. Tradition holds that William the Conqueror was in his castle at Lillebonne in 1066 when he made his decision to invade England. The castle was rebuilt in the 12th century, but today only ruins remain. Lillebonne had been a textile town, but, along with adjacent Notre-Dame de Gravenchon and the Port-Jérôme industrial zone bordering the Seine, this area has become a major centre for oil refining and petrochemical processing. Pop. (1999), 9,738; (2014 est.) 9,018.