A-Z of the Communes in the Deux-Sèvres

Tourtenay

by Sue Burgess

Fort. According to the legend, Fort (the monk) had come to the Abbey of Ension, at Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes, to spread the Gospel and convert the people. When he died, the cart carrying his body stopped at the top of the hill at Tourtenay. The cattle which were pulling the cart went back down the hill and stopped outside the church. Since then, the church of Saint Pierre has been dedicated to Saint Fort and many pilgrims came to pray on the tomb. In 1730, this devotion to Saint Fort was renewed by the then Bishop of Poitiers. St Fort is supposed to have performed miracles and healed sick and infirm children. The sculptured panel on the altar front shows this. The original church was probably built in the IXth century. It was square in shape. The western outside wall was rebuilt during the XVth century, and a doorway was made in the Southern wall. In the XVIIth century, the church was enlarged by the addition of the choir and the sacristy. A burial chamber was installed in the choir for the tomb of Saint-Fort The bell tower is not shown in the plans of the church that were drawn in 1877, which means that it was

probably built in the later part of the XIXth century. The burial chamber was transformed into a doorway to the tower and the tomb of St Fort was moved into the sacristy at the same period.

The pigeon loft at Tourtenay dates from about the VIIth century. Part of it is in the tuffeau rock and its tower rises from about 10 metres underground. There are 1875 boulins (rectangular pigeonholes). The first row is about a metre above the ground. A turning ladder allows access to the higher parts. There is a large room at the base of the tower. What it was used for no-one knows. The troglodyte pigeon loft is unique in the Poitou Charentes area and it is now part of a private property, the vineyard of Clos du Bois Ménard.

The commune of Tourtenay is situated in the North of the Deux-Sèvres. Set on top of a hillock, the commune overlooks the départements of Vienne and Maine-et-Loire which are right next to it.

One of Rabelais’ legends says that the hillock is a lump of earth that fell off Gargantua’s shoe when he was crossing the Poitou region. The real origins and history of Tourtenay are not very well documented, but thanks to archaeological discoveries it is known that the territory was occupied from the Bronze Age and throughout the Gallic -Roman period. The first written reference to Tourtenay dates from the VIIth century: Tourtenay was donated by a Poitevin noble called Astase to Achard, the abbot of Jumièges. Further historical references are rare. Tourtenay is the only commune of the Deux-Sèvres with a troglodyte heritage left by the extraction of tuffeau stone. The pigeon loft is an example with its 1875 “boulins” (pigeonholes) and is of particular interest. The church of Tourtenay is one of the few churches in Deux Sèvres that date from before the year 1000. Under the Ancient Regime, before the Revolution, the parish of Tourtenay depended on both Poitou and Anjou. The first written mention of the priory Saint-Pierre de Tourtenay dates from 838, when Pépin I gave the land of Tourtenay to the Abbey of Jumièges. In 1022, Guillaume Duke of Aquitaine and Henri Duke of Anjou exchanged the priory of Tourtenay for the priory of Longueville which until then had belonged to the Royal Abbey of Saint-Pierre-deBourgueil.

The parish church of Saint-Pierre depended on the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-de-Bourgueil and was dedicated to Saint

Tourtenay – the washhouse

The washhouse belongs to the commune. It dates from the XIXth century and is built into the hillside 500m from the village.

The impluvium or "pool to catch rainwater" is a system to capture and store rainwater. The word, which is of Latin origin, describes a large basin which was situated in the courtyard of a Roman house. Today the word is used in French to mean both the basin and the opening in the roof. Enclosed by walls on four sides, impluvium washhouses like the one in Tourtenay are covered with sloping roofs that leave the basin open to the elements so that rainwater can be collected. In Tourtenay, the water in the washhouse is also fed from a spring. Only the remains of four slate sections of the roof allow us to imagine the existence of the building. The washhouse had an important place in everyday life. The washhouse is closed at present.

Tourtenay and the Resistance. Parachute drops in Tourtenay "Le Moulin à Eau"

During 1941, the Confrérie Notre-Dame (CND) network organised 4 parachute drops on the land known as "Le Moulin" at Tourtenay. These operations allowed equipment for the radio receivers and transmitters to be dropped. This equipment was important for the sending of information collected by the Resistance, to London.

The drops took place on the nights of the 2nd to 3rd August, 17th to 18th September, 7th to 8th October and 4th to 5th November 1941. The message from the BBC indicating that the drops were going ahead was « Nous boirons un Pernod à votre santé le … » "We will toast you with a glass of Pernod on the ...". The parachute drops were at the area called" Le Moulin à eau " in Tourtenay and the site was given the code name Nick Pernod. Altogether, 16 radio receivers and transmitters were dropped. They were some of the first to be dropped in occupied France. In the last drop, the technician Robert Delattre (Bob) was parachuted in. The area was chosen because it was close to the canal of the Dive river, which was an easy point for the pilots to see on a night with a full moon. The landing site Roi de Cœur at St Léger de Montbrillais (86) and the drop site Nick Pernod at Tourtenay, were under the responsibility of Doctor André Colas (Nick), a radiologist at the hospitals of Thouars and Loudun. The drop site was on the property of Monsieur and Mme Maurice Touret, who lived at the farm “ferme du Moulin”. The farm was a hiding place for agents and used for stocking equipment. All the family were involved. Alexandrine, the mother, her son Maurice and his wife, Eugénie, and two of Alexandrine’s other children, Raphaël et Paul (Léon).

The message « Nous boirons un Pernod à votre santé le … », was announced by the BBC several times as often the drops had to be postponed because of bad weather or no moon. According to the secret code, the number 10 had to be added to the date given to get the real date of the drop. After the war, General De Gaulle wrote a personal letter of thanks to the head of the family, Maurice Touret.

A VOIR / MUST SEE

Saint-Pierre church dating from the XIth century and registered as a historical monument in 1926. In the church can be found the tomb of Saint Fort. Visits are regularly organised by the Thouars tourist office. The troglodyte pigeon loft at Clos de Bois-Ménard, which is today part of a wine cellar. The troglodyte wash-house (not accessible in July 2022 because of renovation and restoration). A lot of the houses in the village have troglodyte caves used as cellars, caves and outbuildings.