Landmarks on the history of Vierville

Historial notes on Vierville

Vierville-sur-Mer is thus noted "Wiarevilla" in 1158 and "Viarvilla" in 1264. It therefore seems that the village dates back at least to the time of the Nordic installations in Normandy. In fact, it is likely that most parishes were recognized in the Carolingian era in the 9th century. A Viking leader named Wivar and his men had to settle here, in the middle of populations speaking a patois of Latin origin and that's how the village was called "the domain of Wivar". As these invaders were generally not accompanied by women, they found them on site and they transmitted to the children a language with a Latin structure. The Norse language has disappeared in a few generations but many words of Scandinavian origin have been incorporated into the initial patois from Latin.

Wikipedia indicates "Mentioned in the form Wiarevilla in 1158, from the old French city in the sense of rural domain and the Anglo-Scandinavian personal name Wivar, attested in the north of England, variant of the Norse name Vidhfari. Homonymy with Vierville (Manche, Viarvilla 1284). Same anthroponym probably contained in Virville (Seine-Maritime, Wivarevilla v. 1210), Viertot (Seine-Maritime) and the English toponyms Weaverthorpe (Yorkshire, Wiveretorp v. 1110) and Wiverton (Nottingham) (François de Beaurepaire, Les noms des communes et des anciennes paroisses de la Manche, éditions Picard 1986)".

Subsequently, local chiefs succeeded each other, and some had the opportunity to emigrate and come to neighboring countries. First during the conquest of England by William the Conqueror, the participants were assigned domains across the Channel, then the expeditions to Sicily, then later the Wars of Religions and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes led the lords of Vierville to expatriate to England, Germany, and later the United States.

Even today, a British family is called Crespigny-Vierville, reminiscent of the fiefs of Vierville and Crespigny.

In the United States, Americans kept the name Wierwille, probably emigrants to Germany (and Switzerland) who Germanized their name from "Vierville" to "Wierwille" before emigrating around 1900 to America like many other Germans. Neil Armstrong, the first man to have walked on the moon would be one of their descendants. Today, some have re-francized their name which has legally become "de Vierville".

In the above excerpt from Jean Petite's map, drawn in 1675, we notice under the name "VIERVILLE SUR LA MER", a church whose "patron of profits" is "S", the "lord of the place" and the mention of a "Ancient".

Also note the mentions on the battle of Formigny in 1450, the "5" near Trévières which means the presence of a market on Friday, a tradition that of course continues today.

More recently, the commune was created at the time of the Revolution, (around 1791), under the name of "VIERVILLE", whose territory corresponded to the religious parish of Vierville.

The mention "SUR-MER" was added by decree of August 1, 1913.

(Details) Handwritten map of Mariette, late 17th century, with many visible details: the mentions "Little haven lost for 50 years", "Fare", a Water mill, a Windmill, a "Manor", 2 castles: "Vierville" And the "Vaumisset", "Very dangerous sandbanks", the names of 3 shallows off the Percée ("banc de Gonti", "raz and bench of the Tour de la Percée", "banc de la Carre")

Also note that the tip of the Hoc was called "the Sheep", which suggests that it did not have the current hook form.

On this Cassini map, dating from the 18th century, we find, with a "Guard Corps", the main fiefdoms of the municipality: "Vierville", the "Vaumisset", "The Ormel", "Vaqueville", "Crépigny", a windmill "Place Gaillard" To the uncertain location. On the other hand, neither Saint-Sever nor Than are there, probably not built at the time of the map layout. (this is the first overall map of France, commissioned by Louis XV)

From many old maps on which Vierville is mentioned (page 52) are now available.

The administrative history of the Normandy coast (page 53), shows the different jurisdictions that have succeeded one another.

An interesting document for the history of Vierville was drawn up in 1995 by Michel Hardelay, who was mayor of Vierville after the war. On October 4, 1995, he wrote a long letter to Mrs. Delsuc, a secondary resident, to answer her questions. You will find a lot of details about the history of the village (letter in doc file form). (jpg image of the original letter)

It is reported that the commune of Vierville was once much more important than it is today, and that instead of the current 250 inhabitants, it would have had 1800 around the 16th century. However, such a high figure is unlikely and no original text confirms it. A figure of the order of 400 inhabitants is more likely, depending on the agricultural productive capacities of the 600/650 hectares of the parish and the domain of the Lord of Vierville.

It was in 1823 that the first cadastre of the municipality was carried out. It was prescribed by law since the First Empire, but it had to take a few years to establish it in all municipalities. In particular, it made it possible to cut and assign to the inhabitants the large lots of communal land along the sea and in "Les Vignets", which had remained undivided since the beginning.

The tourism in Vierville developed from the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century.

The first villas were built towards the end of the Second Empire (Napoleon III had taken an interest in the Bessin and had considered "valgiating" in Grandcamp), but the seaside road, subsidized by the department (the RD 30), did not see the light of day until 1900, under the impetus of Mayor Etienne de Cauvigny (owner of Saint-Sever).

The Beginnings of tourism Have been marked by the creation of several establishments that still exist. Especially those of Piprel families (the "Casino"), (Beachside restaurant, then hotel-restaurant), The Welsh (the Beach Bazaar), with a brewery and furnished, Merlin (Hotel de la Place), in the center of the village, now disappeared), Pignolet ("The Magpie that Tete"), small hotel-restaurant at the crossroads of the village, with curious old sculptures on the facade. Old postcards show the successive evolutions of these constructions.

After the war, tourism resumed its activities as before around the beach, the wind and the sea, but the memory of the fighting of 1944 has sparked a considerable development of tourism in transit. Many monuments and commemorative plaques have been set up in Vierville.

The church (13th and 14th century), classified, of fairly large size, attests that the village was important since the Middle Ages, especially if we admit that it had aisles.

We also kept some memories of the schools and religious foundations that operated there under the old regime.

At the foot of the cliffs that border the sea and where there were some flat land, there was a port and an agglomeration of houses. Several texts from the 16th century and later, as well as archaeological traces, confirm the temporary existence of this port for a few decades.

Among the memories of past centuries that remain in the commune of Vierville-sur-Mer, in addition to the church, we can note several castles, mansions or old farms, such as:

- the castle of Vierville (17th century), with some vestiges of the feudal castle of the lords of Vierville in the Middle Ages;

- the Vaumicel castle (16th century), classified as a historical monument, certainly the most original;

- the manor of Than (18th century), destroyed in 1944, which served as a hiding place during the leak in 1796 of Abbot Edgewoth, confessor of Louis XVI, wanted by the authorities of the 1st Republic;

- the large farm of the Ormel with its old house and its old bretèche (16th and 17th century); a large shell on the facade shows that it could have served as a relay for pilgrims on the route of St Jacques de Compostela;

- the manor of Crespigny (16th century), where there remains a very old house with a monumental fireplace and an old facade dovecote;

- the castle of St-Sever(18th century), hidden in the middle of the grove;

- the Château des Isles, built in the 19th century and destroyed in 1944;

- the farm of Normanville, former fief that became a farm and then a second home;

- the farm of Vacqueville former seigneurial fief that has now become a dairy farm with cottage and guest rooms.

All have their origin seigneurial fiefs whose history can be tried to be traced through the lives of the noble families who owned them.

Today the agglomeration has still remained quite dispersed, as at its origin, when farms and mansions could be established in isolation with a drinking water well on site and herds to be milking in the neighborhood. covered wells, old hedges and old fence, wind protection or perimeter walls still exist today in Vierville. The Commune strives to protect them in its urban planning documents.

A center has gradually formed around rue Pavée with traders and artisans, the central crossroad with the Town Hall and the Post Office, the train station (disappared today), one or 2 small hotel-restaurants, and the school (today the Recreation Center of the Community of Municipalities), and not far from the church and the castle.

Streets have been built all around: first the rue du Hamel au Prêtre, the quartier des Fontaines then beyond the castle and the mansion of Than, a district of old houses: the Chasse Bertin and Guerberue. The other gaps, Vaumicel, Crépigny, Saint Sever, l'Ormel, les Isles, Vacqueville, Fosses Taillis (hamlet attached to the village of Saint-Laurent), remained relatively isolated.

After the war, urbanization resumed in these old streets and in new roads, such as the streets of Schools and Mont Olive, the streets of Hérode, de la Chasse aux Prix, de la Chasse Bertin, roads of Louvières, Port, Grandcamp, etc. But, always individual houses, without densification, grasses often separating the built-up areas and giving the image of a rather cowardly and still very rural urbanization.

Among the many pre-war artisans (carpenter, mechanics, barber, hairdresser, etc.) there was still a blacksmith in the village, in charge of the manufacture and maintenance of agricultural equipment and horse iron. This forge completely disappeared after the war with the introduction of tractors. The firries apparently followed each other from father to son in the Blin family; the last of them lived on a small farm on the Formigny road, on the right.

We also kept the memory of the vintage kettle which passed every year to boil the cider and make the calvados. He settled either on the farms or in front of the tobacconist.

The public transport in Vierville through the ages: from the beginning of the 18th century and until the construction of the Paris-Cherbourg line in the second part of the 19th century, more or less regular carriages connected Paris to Caen, Bayeux and Cherbourg.

In 1900, a narrow-gauge network (60 cm, Decauville track) connected Vierville to Isigny, Grandcamp and the Molay-Littry (via St-Laurent, Formigny and Trévières).

This network, which became obsolete with the advent of car traffic, was closed in 1928, for the benefit of bus lines, currently "Les Courriers Normands"

On September 1, 1939, the "funny war" began, which ended with the arrival of the Germans on June 19, 1940. Memories of this period in Vierville were recorded in particular in the letters that a Parisian refugee living in Vierville, sent to her children living abroad. There is a trace of the concerns of the time and the life of the village in 1939 and 1940.

On June 6, 1944, the 116th regiment of the United States National Guard landed in front of Vierville, a landing that cost the lives of many young Americans. Their memory is perpetuated and every year many veterans and veterans' descendants join tourists from all nations to visit Omaha Beach, the site of this historic battle, which allowed the Liberation of Europe.

On Omaha Beach, the American Forces set up and operated a very large artificial port, the Mulberry A, which allowed them to provide the supplies necessary for combat for several months.

The former mayors of Vierville:

The first mayors date from the Revolution. Before this time, the Civil Status was held by the successive parish priests Saint-André de Vierville. These were appointed by the bishop of Bayeux on the proposal of the "patron" of the church, the lord of Vierville, owner of the domain of the castle of Vierville.

From Vendémiaire An I (1791, first year of the Republic), the commune of Vierville was created and the mayors succeeded each other without interruption until the present time.

Today, municipal councils are concerned with the conservation of the Municipality's heritage, in particular for the development of the Local Urban Planning Plan, an opportunity to safeguard the most characteristic elements.