Almenêches

Commune in Normandy, France

(2020–2026) Paul Vinet^[1]Area20.27 km² (7.83 sq mi)Population645 • Density32/km² (82/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal codeElevation158–247 m (518–810 ft)
(avg. 171 m or 561 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Almenêches (French pronunciation: [almənɛːʃ] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.^[3]

The commune of is made up of the following villages and hamlets, Saint-Hippolyte, Almenêches, Fligny, La Gare, Le Mesnil, Les Champs Bouchers, Le Friche, Surônes and Les Essarts.^[4]

The Commune is one of 30 communes that make up the Natura 2000 protected area of Bocages et vergers du sud Pays d'Auge.^[5] The site is 21,541 hectares in size and consists of a well-preserved wooded landscape that hosts three protected beetles, the European stag beetle, the great capricorn beetle and the Hermit Beetle.^[6]

Almenêches along with another 70 communes is also part of a 20,593 hectare, Natura 2000 conservation area, the Haute vallée de l'Orne et affluents.^[7]

Almenêches has a total of 15 water courses running through it, three rivers The Orne, la Dieuge and Le Don.^[8] The other twelve watercourses are all streams;

Almenêches church a 16th century Church that was part of Almenêches Abbey and listed as a Monument historique in 1948.^[9]

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	615	—
1975	516	−2.48%
1982	600	+2.18%
1990	660	+1.20%
1999	645	−0.26%
2009	693	+0.72%
2014	705	+0.34%
2020	647	−1.42%
Source: INSEE[10]

The inhabitants are known as Almenéchois in French.^[11]

• Louis-Guillaume Perreaux (1816 -1889) an inventor who submitted one of the first patents for a working motorcycle in 1869, was born here.^[12]

The arms of Almenêches are blazoned : Azure, on a bend argent between an anchor and a mullet Or, 3 ermine spots (palewise) sable.

• Communes of the Orne department