Monday 8 August 2016

The Dead Centre of Preuilly

Looking at the 1813 cadastral map the other day (as you do) I was drawn to the area around the Chapelle de Tous les Saints.

The chapel is in the top left corner of the the old cemetery, the area outlined in yellow.
The area outlined in red is part of the new cemetery

We know that the area to the east and south of the chapel was the burial ground, which was moved to its current location at the start of the 20th century. The exact date seems to be lost in the mists of time, although there must be a record somewhere.



What interests us is that on the 1813 cadastre an old cemetery is shown: the cemetery which predates our current "old cemetery". It's marked on the map as the Ancien Cimetiere (bottom left corner of the above map), in a location now occupied by houses and farm buildings.

5 comments:

chm said...

I do not think there are two anciens cimetières the old-old one and the new-old one. The only old cemetery is the one within the yellow lines next to the chapel. You will notice the little crosses there. My impression is that the mention Ancien Cimetière is written there just because it's what for some reason that map is about. Crosses are missing too in the alleged ancien. It would be interesting to see the complete map to have a definite opinion.

Leon Sims said...

Simon/Susan - do you think that we newbies mind the history of our new found homes interest us more than those that have lived there for most of their lives. I know that I'm passionate about discovering history here where we now live.

Unknown said...

The law of 1905 separating the state and the religion transfered the responsability of cimetery to the mayor of cities; So the " chapelle de tous les saints" was surrounded by a park. skeletons crosses the road to a new place bought by the village.

Fab said...

The legend "Ancien Cimetière" is probably the name given to this district of the city, not exactly the location of the old cemetery.

Susan said...

That might be the explanation, yes.

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