A portrait of Vierville between tourism, local life and heritage

This portrait of Vierville starts from the ancient form Wiarevilla, attested in 1158 according to the newspaper, and presents several etymological hypotheses: a Germanic name, Wero, the word villa designating a domain, or a lord named Vire. The municipality had 292 inhabitants in 1985 on 623 hectares. Tourism, from Easter to All Saints' Day, dominated its activity, with a summer capacity of about 3,000 people welcomed in three hotels, furnished, camping, rural or equestrian cottages and guest rooms. A German organization came camping every year with children and teenagers.

The Friends of the Beach, chaired by Mr. Delobel with Mrs. Racine as treasurer, offered table tennis, voluntary gymnastics in winter and various activities. The rally on Saturday, March 22 brought together fourteen cars, then 120 people around a buffet at the VVF in Colleville. The announced program included a cycling race with Trévières on May 1, the festivities of July 14 and a Norman day with a fair for all on August 10. Hubert de Bellaighue de Bughas ran the Vaumicel riding school. The SNSM station had a Zodiac that could intervene all year round.

Created by Daniel Trefeu and Mr. Levéel, the Landing Museum welcomed 35,000 visitors in 1985. Its hours were announced from March 22 to October 1, from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., with continuous opening from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in July and August. The municipality had undergone new constructions in 1985. It maintained twelve farms, two grocery stores, a bakery, a butcher, a Monday morning market - twenty to twenty-five exhibitors in summer -, a mason, a painter, a garage-gas station and a podiatrist who made orthopedic insoles. Signered paths started from the church towards Louvières, Asnières and Saint-Laurent, and the path of the domains ran along the coast.

The newspaper listed the places of memory: the stele of the first American cemetery, the monument of the National Guard on a bunker, that of the genius on the side of the cliff, the plaque of the Rangers at the Hôtel du Casino, a stele of the 8th armored battalion and a plaque of the chemical mortar battalion on the fence of the cemetery. Jean-Marie Oxeant, mayor since 1983, had been deputy in 1979 and councilor since 1977; the average age of the council was estimated at 35 years.

The ancient heritage included the church and its medieval bell tower, the 16th century Vaumicel mansion, the 18th century Vierville Castle and the ruins of an older tower. The text recalled the tradition that Father Henry Edgwarth, who had accompanied Louis XVI on the scaffold, was said to have found refuge in a turret during the Terror. He still mentioned the ruins of Than's mansion, the castle of the Isles known by the postcards of Daniel Trefeu, the castle of Saint-Sever inhabited by Mrs. de Mons, the fortified farm of Lormel and the barn buildings of Crépigny.

Regarding this last property, the article evoked a Protestant family and its descendants established in the United States, Germany and Switzerland, then recalled the arrival of Vierville's descendants from the United States to marry there. He concluded with the affirmation of a Vierville origin of the first man who walked on the Moon, without providing any justification in this cut. The photographs, from Prigent, show in particular Mrs. de Mons, 90 years old, and a restaurant fresco.

Reconstructed or uncertain passages:
- Etymological and genealogical hypotheses are reported like those of the journal, without independent validation.
- The source gives medieval datings that are difficult to reconcile ("church of the 13th century", "bell tower of the 12th century", "Romanesque parts of the 13th and 14th century"); the medieval term avoids transforming this passage into certain dating.
- The final statement about the first man on the Moon is preserved as an unsupported assertion of the journal, and not as an established fact.

Archive image: https://vierville.cordelle.eu/PhDoc10/1986Mars30-HistVV.jpg