Everyday life in the past — Vierville-sur-Mer

A cart loaded with hay surrounded by workers in Vierville — Hay in Vierville. Family photograph kept in the file on agriculture; the exact date is not retained here.

Living from the land and the shore

Before tractors arrived, farm life revolved around draught horses, hand milking, haymaking and orchards. The notes describe large holdings and small farms, hedge maintenance and cider making. Along the coast, they also recall shore fishing and the resources of the cliffs. The distiller’s equipment and memories of Les Routoirs add to this account of local skills and working life.

Farms, crops and fishing
From the gestures of the fenaison to the transformations of the post-war period, with a survey of farms and rural memories.
The distiller’s visits
Photographs of distilling equipment in 1939 and 1953, with notes on family practices.
An old port under the sand
Plans, photographed remains and ancient texts illuminate cabotage and exchanges before modern roads.
Michel Hardelay’s recollections
A letter from 1995 about Les Routoirs, the former harbour and uses of the cliffs.

Interior of the Auguste Blin forge, with the fireplace, anvils and tools — The forge of Auguste Blin photographed in 1938. The file also retains a hardware scene and a 1937 invoice.

Village shops and workshops

Postcards of Rue Pavée reveal a village of shopkeepers and craftspeople: grocers, bakers, shoemakers, cafés, a joiner’s workshop and a forge. The notes connect shop names with the people who ran them and trace the changing uses of the houses. Two groups of images bring vanished trades to life: photographs of Auguste Blin’s forge in 1938, and pictures of the fish seller who came from Grandcamp with a dog-drawn cart.

Shops and artisans, house by house
A documented walk in the shops of the village, with names, souvenirs and locations spotted.
In the forge of Auguste Blin
Photographs from 1938, ironing of the horse Muscadet and history of the family of blacksmiths.
The fish merchant
Postcards of his dog hitch and souvenirs of the street trade before 1914.
Activities and companies
Other photographs, articles and commercial documents preserved as traces of their time.

Steam train stopped in front of Vierville station — The little train at Vierville station, old postcard. The line served the village in the early 20th century.

Getting around: the little railway and the roads

Transport links opened Vierville to markets, neighbouring towns and visitors. The documents take us from mail coaches to the steam tramway of the Chemins de fer du Calvados, and later to motor coaches. Postcards, timetables and a ticket trace the routes. The story of the little railway also explains how it shared the road with carts and cars, before the line closed in 1928.

Trains, coaches and passengers
The history of the Vierville connections, with old schedules, photographs of the station and transport documents.
Roads and paths
A file on local roads and development projects set out in the documents kept.
Before the road: the port of Vierville
The role of maritime exchanges and the remains of the harn, studied from texts and plans.

Musicians and vacationers gathered on the terrace of the Casino de Vierville — A concert on the terrace of the Casino, an old postcard preserved in the history of the establishment.

The beginnings of seaside holidays

In the late nineteenth century, sea bathing, villas and hotels transformed the beach. Brochures and postcards trace the arrival of the Piprel and Le Gallois establishments, bathing huts and the terraces of the Casino. The collections allow us to compare the same establishment at different times, before and after the war. Simone Pourchez’s song captures the atmosphere of family holidays, while camping and tourism organisations mark further stages in this story.

The holiday before 1939
Villas, sea baths, trams and brochures from 1895 and 1932 put the tourist boom back in its time.
The different Casinos
From the first restaurant by the water to the hotel and its reconstruction, a collection of compared images.
The bazaar, cabins and furnished Le Gallois
The evolution of a beach establishment, from its first bazaar to La Plage d'Or.
The Hotel of Tourists and La Pie qui Tette
The transformations of the Carrefour hotel and the families who operated it.

Learning, teaching and care

School plans, former pupils’ memories and accounts of successive teachers shed light on education in the village. The collection goes back to school foundations under the Ancien Régime, then follows the public school until it closed in June 1988. Notes on health explore the leper hospital, access to doctors in neighbouring villages and an oral account of Marcellin Legrand, the postman and healer. They are presented as records of local history and family memory.

The school, its teachers and students
Construction projects, old foundations and public school memories.
Treat in Vierville
Some benchmarks on assistance to the sick, doctors and oral traditions collected.
Teachers also town hall secretaries
Names and functions of municipal employees, with the uncertainties reported in the statement.
Meeting among former students
An associative memory file including the reunion of school alumni.

Parade of participants in Norman costume in a street of Vierville — Norman holiday of August 12, 1984. Photograph kept in the archives of the Friends of the Beach.

Celebrations, sports and shared moments

Albums and press cuttings recall summers on the beach, Norman festival processions, St John’s bonfires and sandcastle competitions. Other collections follow the games at Club Omaha, riding at Le Vaumicel, sailing and wind sports. Trips, handicrafts, gatherings organised by the local social welfare centre (CCAS) and the work of local associations complete this picture of community life. Each event belongs to its own date, as a memory of the village.

The parties of the Friends of the Beach
Parades, rallies, fairs, fires and beach games: an abundant chronicle in images and articles.
The Omaha Club games
Swimming lessons, competitions and summer activities documented from the 1960s to the 1970s.
The Vaumicel equestrian club
Shows, competitions and horseback riding through the local press.
Sailing and wind sports
Documents on the Omaha Beach Nautical Club, Eolia, paragliding and coastal activities.

Homes and inhabitants through time

Censuses, photographs of the village centre and earlier studies show how Vierville’s population and homes have changed. The collections distinguish the centre, the seafront and the hamlets, and also consider second homes and their conversion to permanent residences. The figures and interpretations come mainly from documents dating from the nineteenth century to the early 2010s. They help explain changes observed at those times, rather than describing the village today.

Read the old censuses
Population evolution, household structure and comments placed in the context of the data stored.
Houses, housing and second homes
Statistics and old analyses on the composition of the housing stock and its transformations.
The forms of habitat and landscape
Descriptions of the village, the waterfront and the hamlets in the archived development documents.
Browse Pavée Street in pictures
A collection of postcards and photographs of the village, houses and street activities.

The Vierville party hall at the foot of the cliff — The festival hall renovated in 1994, a photograph kept in the file on post-war municipal events.

Local government in the archives

Municipal newsletters and council minutes offer another perspective on village life: its decisions, public facilities and gatherings. The 28 surviving newsletters run from November 2002 to June 2016; the dated council meetings cover 2005 to 2012. A press collection also records local events from the post-war years onwards. These documents allow a project, celebration or service to be studied in the context of its time.

Municipal bulletins, from 2002 to 2016
The 28 numbers kept, grouped by year and dated to find the news of the village in their time.
Reports and deliberations
47 entries classified by date, with documentary gaps and contradictions reported.
Communal events after 1945
Party room, post office, housing, meetings and transformations of the village, through press clippings.
Echoes of the local press
Storms, shipwrecks, incidents and other dated events kept in the archives.