Langonnet is in north-west of Cornouaille, in Lower Brittany. It is one of the few Cornouaille parishes to be located in the present-day Morbihan department. Thus, the main language was Breton until the advent of intensive farming after the Second World War, at which point the population, previously bilingual, switched to French.
The parish comprises two main settlements:
the actual town of Langonnet in the south
the town of La Trinité-Langonnet in north-east
In the south-east is the former Langonnet Abbey (Abbaye Notre-Dame de Langonnet).
Topography
The highest point of the parish is the calotte Saint Joseph, a round hill whose top is 292 meters above sea level. It offers a good view of the surrounding area, most of the parish being at 190-meter level.
The commune's name is written "Langoned" in modern Breton but has been spelled in various ways through the years due to various attempts to transcribe the Breton phonetic system into the Latin alphabet:
11th century : (Lan)Chunuett
1152 : Langenoit
1161 : Langonio
1168 : Lanngonio
1301 : Lenguenet
1368 : Langonec
1368 : Langonio
1373 : Languenec
1516 : Langonet
1516 : Langonio
1536 : Langonnet
1574 : Langonec
1630 : Langouet
Today: Langoned
The name is said to come from "Lann-Conet", the monastery ("lan" in Breton; compare Welsh "llan", as in Llanelli) of Conet[4] (or Conoit, Konoed, Kon(n)ed, Konoid = Cynwyd, Kynwyd or Kynyd in Welsh), a Welsh saint who was active in Brittany.
Demographics
Inhabitants of Langonnet are called Langonnetais in French and Langonediz in Breton. Langonnet's population peaked at 4,848 in 1931 and declined to 1,708 in 2020. This represents a 65% decrease from the peak census figure.
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1793
3,306
—
1800
3,020
−1.28%
1806
2,924
−0.54%
1831
2,715
−0.30%
1836
3,432
+4.80%
1841
3,442
+0.06%
1846
3,714
+1.53%
1851
3,442
−1.51%
1856
3,427
−0.09%
1861
3,629
+1.15%
1866
4,024
+2.09%
1872
3,417
−2.69%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1876
3,929
+3.55%
1881
3,673
−1.34%
1886
3,710
+0.20%
1891
3,666
−0.24%
1896
3,681
+0.08%
1901
3,982
+1.58%
1906
4,123
+0.70%
1911
4,450
+1.54%
1921
4,494
+0.10%
1926
4,437
−0.25%
1931
4,848
+1.79%
1936
4,358
−2.11%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1946
4,407
+0.11%
1954
3,420
−3.12%
1962
3,083
−1.29%
1968
2,791
−1.64%
1975
2,373
−2.29%
1982
2,106
−1.69%
1990
2,005
−0.61%
1999
1,918
−0.49%
2009
1,927
+0.05%
2014
1,891
−0.38%
2020
1,708
−1.68%
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