Bayeux [key], town, Calvados dept., N France, in Normandy, near the English Channel. It is a farm and communications center, noted for its lace industry. A Roman town and episcopal see from the 4th cent., it was burned (1105) by Henry I of England. Sections of its Romanesque church withstood the fire and form a part of the remarkable Gothic cathedral built for the most part in the 13th cent. The town is particularly famous for its museum containing the Bayeux tapestry. In World War II, Bayeux was the first French city liberated by the Allies (June 8, 1944).
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