DINAN, a town of France, in the department of Côtes du Nord, about fifteen miles inland, on the left bank of the Rance. The river is navigable for vessels of 150 tons up to the foot of the great granite viaduct which was completed in 1852 across the ravine between the town and the suburb of Lanvallay. The town has a highly picturesque appearance, not only from the position which it occupies on the rocky heights above theriver, but also from the numerous remains which it still preserves of the architecture of earlier days. There are considerable portions of the ancient ramparts and towers; the castle of the 14th century still looks down from its height; and many of the houses in the Rue de Jarzuel and the Rue de la Larderie can boast of almost equal antiquity. Of the public buildings may be mentioned the church of St Sauveur, dating from the 12th to the 16th century; the church of St Malo; the townhouse, which was formerly a hospital; and the monastery of the Capuchins, now used as a benevolent institution. Besides a good general trade, the inhabitants carry on the manufacture of linen, sailcloth, cotton, thread, beetroot-sugar, and salt. About half a mile from the town are the ruins of the castle and the Benedictine abbey at Lehon, of which the latter is called in the country the Chapelle des Beaumanoirs; near the neighbouring village of St Esprit stands the large lunatic asylum of Les Bas Foins, founded in 1836; and at no great distance is the now dismantled château of La Garaye, which was rendered so famous in the 18th century by the philanthropic devotion of the count and countess whose story is told in Mrs Norton’s well-known Lady of La Garaye. The principal event in the history of Dinan is the siege by the English under the duke of Lancaster in 1359, during ...

DINANT, a town of Belgium, at the head of an arrondissement in the province of Namur, about twelve miles south of Namur, on* the railway between that city and Givet. It occupies a narrow site between the River Meuse and a rocky limestone hill which is crowned by a castle; its streets are consequently short and crowded, and a considerable number of its houses are built on terraces cut out on the declivity. A cathedral of the 13th century, richly decorated in the interior, two hospitals, and a Latin school are its principal buildings; and among its industrial establishments are paper-mills, glass-factories, salt-refineries, oil-mills, flour-mills, and works for the cutting and polishing of the black marble which is quarried in the neighbourhood. Population in 1866, 6428.

Dinant is a place of great antiquity. A church was consecrated there in 558, and a second in 604. It did not, however, rise to any importance till the 11th century. In the 12th century it was reckoned a place of great strength, and had attained considerable wealth by means of its industry, especially in the manufacture of copper wares, which were familiarly known as Dinanderie. In 1466 Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, took and destroyed the town and its fortifications; but, three years later, his successor, Charles, allowed it to be rebuilt. It was taken and pillaged by the French in 1554, and again in 1675. By the treaty of Ryswick in 1697 it was restored to the Bishop of Liège, but it was again taken by the French in 1794, and became the capital of an arrondissement in the department of Sambre-et-Meuse.