the then queen of Belgium, the area became popular among Parisians looking to escape the city during the années folles for its beach on the banks of the Seine, its casino and 18-hole golf course. It retains one of the first churches built from reinforced concrete, built in 1928 by the architect Paul Tournon and dedicated to Saint Theresa. The majority of the houses (~75% ) are detached, but there are also around 600 homes in collective housing in the town centre, mainly council housing from the 1960s to accommodate employees of the Renault factory. Economic activity centres around the railway station in an industrial zone bordering the motorway and the RD133 road. Rural land is principally given to agriculture, with wooded land occupying an additional 20% (primarily the Lourdet and Étibot woods in the south of the commune). There is also a small lake in the Seine valley near Élisabethville on the site of a former gravel pit now converted to a nature reserve. Population Culture People linked with Épône Hérault de Séchelles (1759–1794), former lord of Épône, representative of Seine-et-Oise in the National Convention, beheaded in 1794, and author of Théorie de l'ambition, codicille politique pratique d’un jeune habitant d’Épône Alphonse Durand (1814–1882), architect. Died in Épône on August 4, 1882. Émile Sergent (1867–1943), professor of medicine, president of the Académie de médecine and director of Boucicaut Hospital, Paris during the Second World War. Max Brusset (1909–1992), politician (mayor of Royan). Daniel Bricon (1928–2004), teacher and historian, author of a history of Épône (1982); Dominique de Roux (1935–1977), writer and journalist. Worked at the château d'Épône owned by her father-in-law, Max Brusset; Pierre Amouroux (1937-2009), conseiller général of Yvelines, mayor of Épône between 1977 and 2004, and MP between 2004 and 2007. Twin towns "Sponsorship" of Doïna-Girov, Romania organised by "Les Amis de Doïna Girov" to provide humanitarian help to the Romanian village. Education Schools : Three nursery schools: Les Pervenches, Les Lavandes, Les Perce-Neiges (Élisabethville), Three primary schools: Jean de la Fontaine, Blaise Pascal, Louis Pasteur (Élisabethville). Secondary school: Benjamin Franklin (opened 1982), home to 600 pupils from neighbouring communes Épône, Mézières-sur-Seine and La Falaise. Its name is derived from the fact that Franklin stayed in Épône when he was Ambassador in France. Pupils usually then move to the Vincent van Gogh lycée at Aubergenville. See also Communes of the Yvelines department References Bibliography Bardy Monique, La