La signalétique patrimoniale en anglais

The Richelieu house

Built in 1650, the house belonged to Marshal Richelieu (1), great grandnephew of the famous Cardinal de Richelieu (2) then to the Duc de Richelieu (3) who gave the property to the town a few years before his death.
Despite the wear and tear of time, it has maintained a number of elements of the Renaissance style that it was richly endowed with during its construction.

The façade consists of four levels:

•  A ground floor of dressed stone, recently restored by its new owner.
• The so-called noble floor with (4) glazed bays and separated from the floor above by a moulding supporting consoles of vegetal decoration.
• The last floor is separated by a moulding with a series of modillions4 and a sole opening: the moulding rests on two consoles with figures that show the date of construction framing a central cartouche that was destroyed during the Revolution.
• A central skylight with a triangular pediment framed by openings completes the general composition at the level of the eaves, thus emphasizing the central axis of the façade. Two carved lions act as gargoyles (5).

Unfortunately, during the Revolution, the house was pillaged and set fire to; nothing remains of the internal decoration. Later on, it became an ironmonger’s “Aux Forges de Vulcain” as a painted inscription “Fers Fontes” on the façade of the second floor but that is no longer visible. The house became a listed monument in 1981 but is not open for visits.

Further information

1/ Maréchal de Richelieu

Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis de Richelieu (1696-1788), duke, great grandnephew of Cardinal Richelieu, was amongst other appointments, First gentleman of the bedchamber and President of the Academy of Sciences.

2/ Cardinal de Richelieu

Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (1585-1642), cardinal (1622) and Duc de Richelieu, was the principal minister of Louis XIII from 1624.

3/ Duc de Richelieu

Louis Armand-Emmanuel-Sophie-Septimanie de Vignerot du Plessis (1766-1822), ambassador of the King Louis XV, President of the Council of Ministers and duke. Governor of Gascony and Guyenne (historic provinces that correspond roughly to the current regions of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie and Catalogne) friend of Catherine II (1729-1796), Empress of Russia; it was he who founded the town of Odessa in Ukraine.

4/ Modillions

Carved elements of architecture that support a moulding, a balcony or eaves.

5/ Gargoyle

A projecting part of a gutter designed to allow rainwater to flow at a certain distance from walls.

The public garden

This verdant haven of peace was created thanks to the gift in 1906 by Pierre-René Mignon (1) of the eponymous boatyard installed along the quays of the port of Marennes, a business handed down from father to son until its closure in the 1980s.
A statue of Charles-Esprit Le Terme (2) was erected in recognition of his deeds. He was the author of a general regulation of the marshes that is still in use today and was made a chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1825.
Henry Mériot (3) has a particular place in garden because he met there regularly with Charentais poets and novelists, “Les poètes réunis”. He was present at a ceremony for the planting of a pine tree (no longer in existence) in 1933, on the initiative and in the presence of the mayor Pierre Voyer (4).
He was made chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur on 31st July 1934. The bandstand, like the pine, no longer with us, was in the centre of the garden. Playgrounds for adults and children as well as an open-air theatre added moments of sweet freedom to this delightful area and was the site for fetes that attracted visitors from all over. Not far from the children’s play area was a fountain and the tower that supports the reservoir is still visible. It was built in 1852 in order to encourage ships to take the long channel to the new port at Marennes and thus obtain a refill of fresh water.

Further information

1/ Pierre-René Mignon (1803-1909)

He succeeded his mother Eustelle Mignon, the founder and manager of the Mignon boatyard that first saw life in the early 19th century.

2/ Charles-Esprit Le Terme

He was born in 1787 and died in 1849, a victim of cholera. He was sub-prefect of Marennes from 1818 to 1837. He is remembered as the saviour of the population of Marennes from the endemic fevers spread by the miasmas of the marshes and poorly maintained channels (“marais gâts”). He required owners to get together and maintain their “achenaux” (different branches of water that connect the marshes).

3/ Henry Mériot (1856-1934)

A well-known poet, he was born in Marennes in rue Sainte-Valière, today rue Georges-Clemenceau. His father died when he was very young and he was brought up by his mother and grandmother, laundresses by trade. In the market, near the bookbinding workshop of Arsène Florentin, he became fascinated by and apprenticed in the profession of bookbinding. After his marriage, he set up home in Rochefort where his bookbinding and gilding workshop attracted many writers. He met Pierre Loti there. He published a large amount of his own poetry. His workshop was a reading room thronged by the artistic and literary world of Rochefort.

4/ Pierre Voyer (1852-1940)

A departmental councillor, he was mayor ofMarennes in 1894 and MP from 1910 to 1914 and then again from 1919 to 1924.

L’hôtel des Fermes

A 16th century former town house, it became the seat of the “Fermes (1)” during the Ancien Régime (2). In this period, Marennes was at its peak mainly due to the numerous saltmarshes surrounding it. Salt (3) was exported largely to northern Europe.
With the prosperity of the town, men of the legal professions, salt merchants and other traders built fine houses, in particular this one. When, under the Ancien Régime, the town acquired royal administrations in the 18th century, it became the seat of the Office des Fermes bought by Jean-Élie-Charron, then the Chamber of notaries and a masonic lodge (4).
Its Renaissance style is unique in Marennes. It is a very simple dwelling with a tour on three floors and mullioned windows. It was called a logis (5) but it never belonged to a noble. It was acquired by the Charron family and it was Jean-Élie, a rich trader, who transformed it by adding the façade of the château de Beauregard at Chaillevette as he was owner of the ruins. It was listed as a historic monument in 1927 but is not open to visits.

Further information

1/ Ferme

Created in 1680 by Louis XIV on the recommendation of Colbert, the chancellor of the exchequer, the “Ferme Générale” is the entitlement of the king of France which he hads to the “Fermiers généraux” in charge of the receipt of indirect taxes, customs duty, registration duties and state products.

2/ Ancien Régime

A term that describes the social, economic, religious and political organisation of France before the Revolution of 1789, between the 15th and 18th centuries.

3/ Salt

For centuries, salt was considered as “white gold”. It is an essential product as it is one of the few means of preserving food and is also a nutritious element for cattle. During the Ancien Régime, it was frequently used as a currency. Thus, as early as 1342, a tax on salt sales was introduced by decree of Philippe VI, who made sales of salt a state monopoly; the tax was known as the “gabelle”. Salt could only be sold in barns administered by the king. The gabelle was added to the merchant’s sales price and it became one of the most unequal and unpopular taxes of the Ancien Régime.
The price of salt was fixed but the gabelle varied according to the territory, sometimes with a difference of forty times from one zone to another. In order to control sales and taxes and suppress contraband, the authorities put in place a network of customs officers known as “gabelous”. The gabelle was removed in 1790 but reappeared in the form of a new salt tax under Napoléon 1st and was only abolished in 1946 after the Second World War.

4/ Masonic lodge

This is the name given to a local group of persons attached to freemasonry. New members of a lodge are coopted by existing members. It is sometimes described as “a philosophic and philanthropic association”, “a moral code illustrated by symbols” or an “initiatory order”. Freemasonry has always been the subject of attacks by political parties and religions. There are numerous obedience throughout the world.

5/ Logis

From the end of the 11th century to the middle of the 15th, the part of a building reserved for the Lord and his family was known as the logis.

Marennes hospital

The foundations of the Marennes hospital were laid in 1892. Jacques Dubois-Meynardie (1), a generous philanthropist who had died on 9th August 1880, left in his will of 1854 a large part of his wealth to create a hospital at Marennes. The intention of the bequest was to improve the lot of the poor. He wrote : “I want a doctor to take care free of charge of the poor who will be paid a fixed sum by the Town Council. Most of the patients will be offered medication free of charge. It must not be forgotten that vintage wine and broth are also remedies for poor people whose illnesses are generally brought about by exhaustion due to fatigue and poor food.”
In 1931, it was a hospital-hospice but was reorganised completely in 1942 with a medical service as well as an operating theatre fully equipped for surgical operations. It became successively a rural hospital then a local hospital in 1976. There were beds for fifty patients. On 25th October 1969, Irène de Lipkowski (2), mayor of Marennes, opened the maternity wing in the presence of three secretaries of state and Jean Lipkowski, her son, secretary of state in the Foreign Ministry and mayor of Royan. The last babies were born in 1982 before the wing closed permanently. The hospital became a neighbourhood establishment mainly for the treatment of geriatric patients and opened a unit in 2004 to treat patients with Alzheimer’s.

Further information

1/ Jacques Dubois-Meynardie

Jacques Dubois-Meynardie (1797-1880) was a landowner and trader. On his death in 1880, his fortune was left to the municipality with the condition that it be used for the destitute. His gift was sufficient to build the hospital and the primary school.

2/ Irène de Lipkowski

Irène de Lipkowski was mayor of Marennes between 1964 and 1971. In 1961 after 14 years as deputy mayor in Orly, she was beaten in the elections by the Communist party. Her son Jean, an MP for Charente-Maritime is supposed to have said: “There’s a commune in my constituency with an elderly mayor who’d like to retire but he would like to know who’s replacing him. You should introduce yourself.” She replied “I did just that and ran on the list of Union and Communal Action.”

La caserne du commandant Lucas

La Caserne du commandant Lucas (1) was built at the start of the 20th century and opened in January 1907. Before the First World War, the barracks was home to the 3rd regiment of colonial infantry (Rochefort) and after the Second World War, a mobile brigade of gendarmerie and finally to a detachment of CRS (Compagnie Républicaine de Sécurité) until the end of the 1970s.
The barracks was a vast building on four floors including mansards. It was empty for a long time after the departure of the CRS and was badly damaged during the Great Storm of 1999. It was left as a wasteland until 2004 when the municipality knocked down the main building and granted permission for the construction of modern buildings.

Further information

1/ Jean-Jacques Etienne Lucas

He was born on 28th April 1764 at Marennes and joined the Coastguard at Rochefort at the age of 14. His first post involved escorting convoys along the coasts. He was posted as an apprentice pilot on the Hermione and sailed with the French expeditionary force in 1780 across the Atlantic with La Fayette. His baptism of fire resulting in his first wounds happened off the coast of Canada during the American War of Independence. He returned home in 1782 after five battles and with an impressive record.
After several campaigns in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean, he was promoted Captain in 1803. He commanded the “Redoutable” a 74 gun ship that he made famous at the battle of Trafalgar when he boarded the “Victory”, flagship of the English fleet; Admiral Nelson (1758-1805) died from a shot fired from his ship. During the battle, Lucas was made prisoner and given the honours due to his rank. Later on he was decorated by Napoleon with the Légion d’Honneur. In 1809, he was commander of the “Régulus” during the “fireship affair” in the bay of the île d’Aix. In April 1809, thirty or so French ships, anchored in the bay, faced an English fleet beyond the range of the canons in the forts of Oléron and Aix.

The English sent in fireships, blown by the wind, loaded with explosives and incendiary devices that routed the French fleet. The only ship to escape, the “Régulus,” resisted two weeks of successive attacks by the English who finally withdrew. Lucas was greeted as a hero at Rochefort. He was congratulated by the Emperor and listed for promotion as rear-admiral. He was placed in early retirement at the Restoration at only 51. Three years later, bitter and discouraged, he died at Brest at the age of 54 in November 1819.

La Caisse d’Épargne (Savings Bank)

Banking activities at Marennes developed rapidly as a result of the prosperity of rich bourgeois families linked to the salt industry; more modest families were de facto excluded as these banks were reserved for the wealthy elite.

To remedy this situation, the Caisse d’Épargne building opened in 1880, following the significant expansion of these establishments in the country. The Marennes branch paradoxically had a richly decorated exterior, unlike other banking outlets. The bank enabled the less wealthy to build up their own capital by making investments of all levels. With the development of oyster farming, the seasonal nature of the activity made these investments particularly useful to organise the workers’ daily lives.
The building that is situated in the heart of the cramped former Rue du Temple, is in the style of Renaissance Louis XII. The large central scrolled (2) cartouche (1) over the imposing entrance still shows the name Caisse d’Épargne. A large double (3) window dominates the building, crowned by a pediment with reversed scrolls and sculpted branches of laurel and oak on which the arms of Marennes are shown. Three architectural decorations known as flame vases (4) were placed at the top of the construction thus completing the edifice. The property was acquired by the commune in 2012 and transformed into offices for the public services.

Further information

1/ Cartouche

A cartouche is an architectural decoration with its central space empty for placing inscriptions such as dates, emblems, or even bas-reliefs.

2/ Scroll

Scroll is a decorative motif in the form of a spiral.

3/ Double

In architecture, double is used for windows, arcades or windows grouped by without necessarily being in contact with each other – separated by a column for example.

4/ A flame

Vase is an architectural embellishment consisting of a stone vase and a flame, inspired by fireworks placed in a pot.

The former sub-prefecture

Initially installed in the former Récollets convent (today’s town hall), it was moved in 1841 to this 18th century townhouse known as the “Froger de la Rigaudière” (1) and to two private dwellings.
Extensive modernisation was undertaken to unify the buildings with the addition of a gateway giving onto the square and a long rear façade (in the ornamental Classic-Renaissance style where bosses (2) and pediments are placed next to large windows) that replaced the wine cellar (3) and the carriage house. In 1887, Marennes was one of 66 sub-prefectures that the Interior Ministry proposed to close.
The robust protest sent to the parliamentarians of the département succeeded in preserving the institution for a while and was led by the mayor, Aimé Victor Olivier, vicomte de Sanderval (4).
However, the delay was short-lived. The île d’Oléron was now reached by a steamer, the transporter bridge of Martrou and various road improvements made journeys much easier and after two centuries of existence, the sub-prefecture was closed permanently in 1926. Today, the buildings are occupied by a delegation of the Conseil départemental de Charente-Maritime and are not open to visits.

Further information

1/ The Froger de la Rigaudière et de l’Eguille family

Now extinguished, was part of French nobility and was established in Saintonge. It was best known for its activities in the Navy in the 17th and 18th centuries and was ennobled in 1711. André Alexandre Froger de La Rigaudière (1722-1807) was a naval officer, first lieutenant in the East India Company and a knight of Saint-Louis.

2/ Boss

A stone cladding forming a projecting boss in relation to its edges.

3/ Wine cellar

This is where vinification of the grape juice takes place.

4/ Aimé Victor Olivier, vicomte de Sanderval

He was born in 1840 and became an explorer in West Africa and a Cryptarch – the leader or guide of a tribe or micro-nation; in his case, king of the Peuls. He died in 1919. He invented the spoked wheel and established the first bicycle company, the Compagnie Parisienne des Vélocipèdes. He encouraged postmen to be equipped with bicycles to speed up their rounds. As mayor of Marennes he wrote to parliamentarians to show his disapproval: “What will Marennes become without its sub-prefecture, its courts and the various services? Competition from the east and the Salins du Midi has destroyed our salt farms, our vines are attacked by phylloxera, our cattle make no money, our agriculture is languishing and our working class too poor. Marennes owes its vitality to the public officials who live there. If the sub-prefecture is closed, it will condemn our town to a certain death.”

Former protestant cemetery 

At the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th, several decrees and regulations (1) required that “cemeteries be moved outside a town or village’s walls”. At the time, Marennes had two cemeteries, the catholic next to the church and the protestant cemetery in the village of Aumône, today Place Roché.
After several warnings from the sub-prefect and a threat to close the cemetery in 1842, the first works for the new cemetery finally began in 1846; they included the construction of a wall to separate the tombs of the “faithful Catholics from the Protestants”. In the end, a hedge was planted, being more natural and much less expensive…
Once the “removals” had taken place, what was going to happen to the former cemeteries? An especial problem for the Protestants with their numerous tombs. While the former Catholic cemetery was situated in the town centre and thus safe from profanation, what was going to happen to that of the Protestants? In fact, in view of its location, there was no interest for the town and it could therefore be sold once the legal delays of preservation had been complied with.
Thus in 1860 a transaction between the Protestant clergy and the municipality of Marennes took place whereby the town undertook to never dispose of the former cemetery. It was agreed that no searches could take place for thirty years, that the walls would be replaced by benches similar to those surrounding the former Catholic cemetery and to sow grass after levelling the ground and removing the tombs and cypresses that remained.
In 1900, the remaining walls being in a parlous condition, the mayor suggested to the Protestants to rent the land, knock down the walls and establish plantations. The pastor accepted the proposal and a lease of eighteen years was drawn up. The commune still agreed not to undertake searches and it transformed the area into a public square, place Roché.

Further information 

1/ On the decrees and regulations

In 1719, a particularly virulent outbreak of scarlet fever led the parliament of Brittany to issue a decree on 16th August forbidding burials in the churches of the province and Rennes. On 21st December 1754, the parliament of Rouen issued a regulation that “forbade burials in churches, except for those that had the right to a tomb and required that graves be 4 feet in depth and 2 feet between each one.” In 1776, a royal declaration, the unique text of funerary legislation, was published by the monarchy of the Ancien Régime, pointing out the double danger for the population of burials inside churches and the presence of cemeteries inside built-up areas.

The beach and seamark of Marennes

From time immemorial, when approaching the coast, it has been essential to be able to locate one’s craft so as to be able to find the channel that leads to a port without mishap. These fixed points are known as seamarks and are easily identifiable easily distinguished. A seamark might be a monument such as the belltower of a church, a house, a rock or even several remarkable trees.

A fixed point, easily identified and identifiable, the seamark is used by navigators to check their position in daytime and thus recognise or modify their geographical position. You could say that a seamark is to daytime what the lighthouse is to night. Seamarks make up one third of the navigational markers of the coast along with buoys and beacons. Information on charts and instructions for navigators are always based on returning to port. The seamark on the beach at Marennes is used as a daytime alignment (1) (without beacons) to guide sailors to the Garrigue channel. It wasn’t until the French Revolution that a service of the Admiralty was created on 15th September 1792 with the responsibility for overseeing lighthouses, seamarks and beacons.
But with an increased volume of maritime traffic, Napoléon 1st created the Lighthouses and Beacons service as part of the Highways department on 7th March 1806 in order to better control them. One can put the date of construction of the seamark called “La Côte de Marennes” between 1864 and 1872, since it first appeared in the inventory in 1872 and was described as a “brickwork seamark in the shape of a windmill, painted in white”. In 1905, information was updated to show that the “Seamark of Marennes is to the west of Marennes, in dressed stone, 4m wide and 10m high and with a triangular gable on top”. The colours, the heights above ground and above high tide mark are also shown.

Further information

1/ Alignment of the seamark

It’s just a question of aligning the beacon at Barat with the seamark to follow a heading of 67.5° 5 (see the chart).

Marennes Plage

The shore of the Marennes Basin faces the shallow waters (2) of the inland sea around Oléron. On the lefthand side is Ronce-les-Bains on the Arvert peninsula between the Gironde and the Seudre. On the right is Saint-Trojan-les-Bains on the south of the île d’Oléron. Between the two is the notorious strait of Maumusson (3), famous for its shoals.
Building in this area dates from the 1960s. The artificial 5ha basin was created in 1998. The beach is thus protected by dunes: whatever the tide’s coefficient, it will always be possible to have a swim. This giant “pool” is fed by a system of pumps and by the natural flow of the tides. Each year, tests undertaken by the ARS confirm the water is of very good quality. The beach in much appreciated by families and children can bathe in security without the risks of currents and tidal pools.

Further information

2/ Shallow waters

A shallow maritime passage between in island close to the mainland and the mainland.

3/ Shoals of Maumusson

The name comes from Old French (Mauvaise Musse) that means “Wrong way”. Navigation is especially difficult and this is an area that has known many shipwrecks. It is feared by sailors because the waters of the Atlantic meet those around Oléron; the currents are powerful and the eddies characteristic of the maelstrom; breakers, especially in bad weather, that were so well described by Victor Hugo in 1843 in “Voyage aux Pyrénées” during his stay in the region:
“Listen to the roaring of the Maumusson strait that sailors can hear 15 leagues away. One of the navels of the sea, the waters of the Seudre, the Gironde, the important oceanic currents, others at the extreme southerly point of the île d’Oléron. Currents from four different directions on shifting sands that the sea piles up on the shore and thus creates a whirlpool. Any large ship that enters the strait is lost. Nothing can prevent the slow, terrible, fearful spiral that seizes the ship.”