CELLE-SAINT-CLOUD COMMUNAL MONOGRAPH
 

I - Geographical sketch

Location: Fifteen kilometers west of the forecourt of ND de Paris, in a straight line, the pretty village of La Celle Saint Cloud is nestled in the countryside, on the slope of a hill on the left bank of the Seine. The built-up area is 6 kilometers from its capital of the canton, Marly-le-Roi, and 7 kilometers from Versailles, its capital of the arrondissement.

Bordering municipalities: The territory of La Celle Saint Cloud is limited to the north by that of Bougival (Beudechisilovalle, Caroli Vama, Charlevanne), to the east by that of Rueil (Riogilum, Ruol, Rueul 1308, Ruel 1415); Vaucresson (Vallis Crisonis, Vallis Cressonis 12th century) and Chesnay (Quercetum, Canoïlum 1122, Cheneium, Chesnetum in the 13th century) are in the south-east and in the south, Rocquencourt (Rocesnis Curtum in the Gallo-Roman period, then Rocconcurtis in 691, Rogancort, Rocencort, Rokencort, Rocquencort in the 12th and 13th centuries.) And Louveciennes (Mons Lupicinus 862, Luciennes, Louvetiennes) form the limit of La Celle to the west.

Population: The last enumeration carried out in 1896 gave the figure of 217 houses occupied by 253 households and 910 inhabitants.

This number of 910 including the 35 young girls in an educational establishment, the municipal population happens to be 875 inhabitants.

It might be interesting to know that this number 875 includes:

• 5 Germans

• 22 Swiss

• 1 Luxembourgish

• 4 Italians

• 3 English

• 2 Belgians

• 3 Americans

Of the 217 houses there are 6 to 3 floors, 60 to 2 floors, 115 to one floor and 36 with only one ground floor. There are 15 households of 7 people and above, 15 households of 6 people, 118 households of 2, 3, 4 and 5 people and 37 households of 1 person.

29 departments do not have a representative in La Celle St Cloud.

The Côtes du Nord, Ille et Vilaine, Morbihan, Loire Inferior and Finistère have 59 inhabitants. Only 396 inhabitants come from La Celle or from the other communes of Seine and Oise.

There are 25 inhabitants in La Jonchère, 101 in Gressets, 15 in Cormier, 3 in Camp, 52 in Montmorts, 25 in Regard, 41 in Beauregard, 20 in Bélébat, 4 in the Angle well, 66 in Etang sec and 6 at Butard. The other 517 inhabitants are part of the agglomeration.

Extent of the territory: The area of the territory is 567 hectares on which the State woods figure for 27 hectares.

Altitude: We can take for average altitude the place of the church 124. From this point we always descend if we go to Bougival and the Seine. Towards the south, on the Vaucresson side, one rises to altitudes of 160 and 162m (the Butard and the Dry Pond). If we go to Versailles via the Chesnay, we first descend to Bélébat 102m then we climb up to the corner well a very fast road, we are then at 162m altitude. To go to Rueil, in about two or 300 steps you go up to 140m, in front of the property of M Blanc (La Châtaigneraie, then you descend the steep and steep path of Jonchère to the road from Paris to Cherbourg ).

Nature of the soil: No deep excavation has so far made it possible to establish in a precise manner the nature of the geological layers in the extent of the territory. But the topsoil and the subsoil present varieties at every step. This is how any author of the hamlet of Gressets comes across a clay soil which gives way to siliceous clay soil towards Beauregard and Bechevet. Likewise, to the right of the Vallon descending to the Seine, we find clayey lands around the village, while a township between La Celle and Bougival bears the characteristic name of Les Sablons. As for the basement, it is sand or clay, and millstone is found quite abundantly in the woods to the south-east of the village. The underground quarries which extend on both sides of the valley and which have now largely collapsed, provided for many years the clay and limestone necessary to supply the lime and brick factories installed at Le Regard, at horse on the two territories of Celle and Bougival.

Climate: The Climate does not differ from that of most of the Sequanian region. Westerly and southwestern winds prevail, bringing fairly heavy rains in spring and autumn. But the annual average does not exceed 0m75. As for the temperature, it is generally mild; the summer average, from April 1 to October 1, is around + 17 ° and the winter average is + 4 °.

The town is very rarely affected by the formidable storms which too often devastate the lowland countries. Listen to the elders of the country, they will tell you that in living memory we have not seen a storm ravage the country. When the threatening clouds arrive above the aqueduct of Marly, they are generally divided to go to pour out on the broad valley of the Seine near Versailles.

The woods that form a belt in the village contribute a lot to cleaning up the atmosphere. The mists of the Seine never reach the village. Also, epidemic diseases are quickly brought under control. Any child who is brought ill to Celle St Cloud quickly regains strength there, Cholera has never appeared there, typhoid fevers, scarlet fever, horrible croup are rarely fatal. Also a large number of wise Parisians come there to spend the beautiful season with their families and do not return to Paris until late; when the start of the school year or the first cold weather force them to leave such an attractive resort.

Relief of the ground: As it was said above, the territory is hilly. A considerable depression starts from the site of the old Butard pond, follows the railway line to the west, descends a fairly rapid slope to the north-west, then to the north, reaching the top of Bougival. From this depression, forming a sort of semi-circumference, stands out a valley almost as pronounced between Beauregard and Les Gressets. Another depression is that of the bottom of the Mallards between the hamlet of Jonchère and the property known as Pavillon Bertrand. This tends towards Rueil and is not very pronounced. To the east and north-east of the first depression are the Butard hunting lodge, the so-called Etang sec or Vaucresson plateau with its woods, its pretty holiday lodges and the village of Celle itself. Between this first depression and the second are the State woods, those of M. Dutreux, the sloping meadows of the Bélébat stud farm and the magnificent Beauregard park which also has its stud farm and its meadows. Then there are the slopes of Gressets and St Michel facing the east, with their rapid slopes towards the valley of Bougival, and at the top, 160m above sea level, dominating all the surroundings, an enormous white building, resembling a gigantic dice to play, known as "the Camp" once the home of a modest beneficent doctor, Dr Duborgia, today the summer residence of an opulent financier. Between the funds of the monuments and the Jonchère here is the enormous croup formed by the Butte des Mallards, the slopes of which towards the Seine are covered with rich pleasure houses depending on Bougival. Fled to the south of the Jonchère depression is the hamlet of this name, part of which depends on Celle and the other on Rueil, then the vast property known as the Châtaigneraie and the Etang sec plateau, cited more high.

The steepest slopes in this beautifully hilly area are between the village of La Celle and its hamlet of Gressets. The travelers know something about it and often curse the ramps and the stairs which it makes them climb to go on foot from La Celle St Cloud to the Cormier station. Elsewhere the slopes are gentle enough to be crossed on foot, without being helped by stairs; so that we can even practice car paths that are not too winding. Despite everything, La Celle Saint Cloud remains the country where you need both breath and shank.

Hydrography

Although it is itself in a hollow, halfway south of the Seine, the village of Celle St Cloud does not have sufficient sources for its needs. In truth, the fountain of St Pierre, which from the middle of the church square has been transported to the bottom of the rue de Vindé, provides top quality water, much appreciated for the sand; in addition, a well located higher than the square, in the same street, also supplies its contingent to nearby households. But this is all that the country provides, because the source which crosses the buildings of the Town Hall and the Schools, is a private property in the municipality cannot be disposed of.

Les Gressets does not have running water either, but many houses have or may have wells with excellent water.

La Jonchère also has a well which was until recently a private property undivided by three owners. The town bought the share of one of the co-owners and since last month this well which is on the edge of the Gallicourts road is for the use of the public. A trickle of water leaves from the railway tunnel under the place where the old maps place the Butard pond, and following the valley small streams increase at the base of the neighboring slopes and around the source of the fountain of the Priests. This stream which was called in ancient times the rû de Drionne (Drionna) feeds the municipal wash house of Bélébat receives 200m below the stream of Beauregard and goes through the bottom of Montmorts, towards Bougival which it feeds the public fountains. .

In 1680 all these waters had been captured to be sent to the Palace of Versailles by the Marly machine. The underground aqueducts still exist, buried 4 or 5 meters deep between the confluence of the rû de Beauregard and the wash house which is at the bottom of the hamlet of St Michel, but these works are upset in the lower part by the subsidence of the Pointelet quarries. . The engineers of the great king had also captured a very abundant source whose location is at the bottom of the park of the castle of Celle, about 23m east of the wall and opposite the southern end of the Deseine nursery, at the level of the ruelle des Rigoles. In 1833, M. Morel de Vindé had his friend M. de Montgolfier, the inventor of balloons, establish in this place a hydraulic ram (the first built) which spent 16 liters of water to bring it up. a. This device, abandoned during the pipeline to supply the castle with water from the Seine around 1864, was destroyed by the Germans in 1870.

With the slow but continuous increase in its population, La Celle Saint Cloud could not be satisfied with its thin supply of spring water. In 1864 it made a treaty with the State to be provided with water from the Seine. A reservoir was built for this purpose at the site of the Dry Pond and the town successively installed a fountain on the church square, with a small cast iron group; a fountain at the top of the rue de Vindé, one in Montmorts, and lastly in 1898 one in Billoises. In addition, washing outlets, of which 2 for rue de Vindé and 1 for the square, have been established for the cleanliness of the streets and 55 emergency hydrants allow the scourge to be immediately and effectively combated in the event of a fire.

The hamlet of Gressets is still without water from the Seine and this situation does not leave that to inspire serious concerns. So the current municipality is concerned to remedy it, and feeding the hamlet is only a matter of a few weeks.

Means of communication

The great concern of rural municipalities is to facilitate their communications with neighboring municipalities and with the inheritances of the inhabitants. The municipality of La Celle St Cloud is no exception to this rule and at all times of its history we can see the efforts made to this end by the municipalities.

The territory is crossed in the southwest by the railway from Saint-Cloud to Etang-la-Ville and Saint-Germain. The Celle St Cloud station is located in Le Cormier and officially bears the name of Bougival La Celle Saint Cloud although it is entirely on La Celle. Its tiring access for pedestrians, almost impossible for cars coming from Celle, make the station of Vaucresson preferred. The municipality has therefore organized for ten years an omnibus service for the latter station with 4 trips per day in winter and 6 in summer.

The main communication path n ° 70 from Suresnes to Epône, a former Normandy road and probably also an ancient Roman road which linked Lutèce to Poissy and Meulan, runs along the territory to the south between Vaucresson and Rocquencourt.

The main communication path n ° 84 from Versailles to Pontoise via Rocquencourt and Louveciennes separates the territory of Celle from that of Louveciennes to the south-west.

The main communication path n ° 128 from Versailles to Bezons passes the Puits d'Angle, the Montmorts ditches and goes down to Bougival with an annex passing through the village of Celle via the rue Pescatore to join the main road at the top of Bougival.

The main communication path n ° 173 from Versailles to the road to Cherbourg is made up of the old route des Puits, the rue de Vindé, the rue St Pierre at the end of which it branches off on the annex of the path n ° 128 above.

These last two roads (n ° 128 and n ° 173) run north-south.

The other local roads, known as ordinary local roads, are 7 in number and their state of maintenance leaves nothing to be desired.

The municipality spends 4500 fr. for the maintenance of its local roads and major communication.

In addition, numerous paths and rural paths crisscross the territory. The municipality annually spends about 2800 francs for their maintenance.

The streets in squares bear the following names:

In the agglomeration:

• Rue de la Mairie since 1829

• Rue and Place du Martrait since time immemorial

• Church square from time immemorial

• Streets of Vindé and Pescatore since 1869

• Rue St Pierre (former rue de Garches) since 1869

• Hogg Avenue, since 1865

• Rue Tremblay, rue des Sablons, rue Béranger and rue Déroulede since 1892

• Rue de Blignères since 1890

In the hamlet of Gressets, the streets of Lavoir, Maugé, Couturier have been so named since 1896.

Posts and Telegraphs

Since August 1895 the town has had a post office. A telegraph office was annexed to it in April 1896 and since April 15, 1899, the double service has been installed in a house acquired by the municipality on rue St Pierre.

Special features of flora and fauna

Nothing remarkable to report on the flora and fauna of La Celle Saint Cloud. Perhaps, however, we should mention the ancient chestnut trees which in some places make up the adornment of the country.

State of the property

Main crops - Livestock farming - Pests

The territory of La Celle includes 567 hectares and has three vast properties: The Château de La Celle St Cloud and its woods, that of Beauregard with an immense park, and the Château de la Châtaigneraie with its meadows for breeding. The other properties of less importance are: the Lys Valley, à M. Sery, the Hogg villa, the Bruyères villa and the Hive. Next come ordinary villas surrounded by a few acres of wooded gardens. The surplus of the territory is occupied by State woods, cultivated land and nurseries.

A single large farm, delle de Béchevet, enclosed in the Beauregard park in the west of the territory, includes large crops: cereals, fodder, beet ferns and potatoes.

There are very few vines left in La Celle St Cloud, at most 20 or 25 ares. We are far from the 62 arpents that were cultivated there in Charlemagne's time and which could produce 400 muids of wine.

Cattle farming sucks at La Celle St Cloud. But the breeding of racehorses is intelligently understood by the owner of the Chataigneraie, Mr. Edmond Blanx in his stud farms at Jardy, La Châtaigneraie, Bélébat and by Monsieur de Charme at the Haras de Beauregard.

The vigilance of the forest guards and the large number of dwellings spared on the territory destroyed or gradually removed the wild animals. It is a rarity that a weasel or a polecat or an evil viper. On the other hand, there is little game, barely a few rabbits and three or four partridges in the public hunt.

Industry

There was a flourishing industry in La Celle Saint Cloud until 1891, that of the manufacture of lime and bricks where in 1880 one employed up to 150 workers and 60 cars. The collapse of the quarries in 1871, and subsequent collapses, heralded the ruin of this industry.

The workers now find little employment except with nurserymen or in construction work. A few women went to work at La Jonchère, in Rueil, in a chain and imitation jewelry factory.

Trade

The trade relates only to the objects consumed in the locality. There are in the town, 4 grocers, 13 wine merchants or restaurateurs, 2 milk feeders with one 40 cows, the other 16, a wholesale wine merchant, a shoemaker, shoe merchant, a haberdasher, two butchers , a baker. In addition, the town is visited every day by delivery men from department stores in Paris and Versailles, butchers, bakers, pork butchers, fruit and grocers in the area.

It must be said that this competition has good for the consumer but that does not prevent that life is very expensive in La Celle Saint Cloud and that the inhabitants largely pay their suppliers for the additional journey and the fatigue which is caused to them. by the situation of their village.

Some prices

A very modest worker's accommodation: a cooker with dining room, bedroom, small cellar and attic without a garden costs 200 to 250 fr. 1 liter of milk 0 f 30 or 0 f 40, 1 egg 0 f 10 or 0 f 15, a beautiful chicken 5 or 6 fr. A cleaning lady costs 0.25 or 0.30 an hour. A day laborer receives 0.35, 0.4 or 0.5 an hour.

II - Historical sketch

La Celle Saint Cloud (Cella villaris; cella fratrum in 829. Cella juxta Karoli Vanna 859. Cella ad Sanctum Clodoaldum in 1459. La Celle near Bougival, La Celle lèz St Cloud or La Celle St Cloud of 3 centuries. It has also been said during some time, in 1794 La Celle lès Bruyères.)

This name of Cella obviously comes from the Latin word which means residence, mansion, place of residence. It was also given in the Celto-Roman regions the meaning of church, chapel, monastery, place consecrated in some way to Christian worship. The word villaris signified house in the fields, farm, smallholding; hence Cella villaris. Cella fratrum can be explained by the installation of a community of religious of Saint Germain des Pres. The proximity of Bougival, formerly Karoli Vanna or Charlevanne, and that of Saint-Cloud sufficiently explains the other names. The name of Celle lès Bruyères (1794) was rational because of the woods full of Bruyères which are around.

We also wrote Sella, the Saddle, but quite wrongly because it is not here as we see a seat, a bench or an armchair.

Origin - Prehistoric times - Gallic or Gallo-Roman antiquities

There are no megalithic monuments in the area, but a few cut flints have been collected which indicate the existence of the first inhabitants, long before the historic period. Later, Gallo-Roman civilization left some vestiges there in the form of thick and flat tiles made of red earthenware debris known as Samos, some of which were found in Les Gressets, in a nursery belonging to Mr. Filliette.

It is in vain that one would now seek on the ground level the flint of prehistoric times, the remains of Gallic or Gallo-Roman pottery, because the cultivated lands, smoked with mud and sludge from Paris for years now. left to researchers only an infinity of fragments of glass, earthenware, pottery, among which the ancient remains are difficult to recognize.

Gallo-Frankish period

When Clodomir's sons were slaughtered by their uncle Clotaire one of the children, Clodoald, was saved by brave warriors. He took refuge in the forest of Rouvray (now Sèvres) to live there as a hermit until 550 when he became a disciple of Saint Séverin. He died in 560, in Nogent sur Seine (today Saint-Cloud).

Everything leads us to believe that the place of Celle was one of his favorite retreats and that other religious became his companions and built there huts or cells, the first nucleus of the village.

Still, this place belonged in the 7th century to Vualdromaire or Vuaudremar, abbot, who gave it to him in 697 at his abbey of Sainte-Croix, Saint-Vincent and Saint-Etienne, from Saint Germain des Prés.

Abbot Irminon, who under Charlemagne headed the abbey of Saint Germain des Prés, and whom the great emperor highly regarded because of his great virtues and his high capacities, left in his Polyptych (income account) a detailed table of immense estates owned in its time by the rich abbey.

He tells us that his abbey had instead of Celle (in villare in cella fratrum) 50 houses of freedmen and 5 of serfs, two very solidly built churches, 10 seams of arable land where one can sow 600 muids of wheat ; 53 arpents of old vines and 9 arpents planted by Irminon which can give a total of 400 muids of wine, 50 arpents of meadow giving 40 carriages of hay, 2 and a half leagues of wood. The community also has near there, in Nirbanis (Beynes) with 3 bonniers de bois, and in Lebiaco (Lévy) a forest where one can feed and fatten 170 pigs.

Celle is the first mention of the village of La Celle,

The monks of the Abbey of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris also had some property in La Celle. Louis le Débonnaire and Charles le Chauve, kings of France, gave, in 829 and 872, charters or diplomas in favor of this abbey and in these documents the place is named "Cella quae décitur Villaris".

The place of La Celle then depended on the Pincerais (country of Poissy) territory of the Carnutes, in Celtic Gaul.

One of the two churches cited by Irminon was dedicated to Saint-Pierre and was located in the village of Celle itself, the other, dedicated to Saint Germain, was in Chesnay which was then part of the seigneury and the territory of Celle .

The normands

In 845, tells the monk Aymoin, the Normans made a descent in France with 120 ships. Led by Regnier, they landed at Rouen without finding resistance. They spread from coast to coast looting, killing, taking prisoners and ravaging the countries along the Seine. Having arrived at a place called "Challevanne, near Ruel", they learned that King Charles was marching against them, which forced them to cross to the other side of the river, where there were few troops which they placed. on the run. After that they wanted to set fire to the two churches of La Celle three times. But the village was then closed by walls and the inhabitants knew how to defend themselves. The barbarians in revenge for their failure burned the neighboring barns by withdrawing, took with them to the island of Croissy III Bougivallais that they hung on stakes, without counting other prisoners that they connected to the largest trees or whom they slaughtered in their homes, in the panic of their flight.

They returned to the charge and the heroic village would have succumbed in the end if Charles the Bald had not driven the Normans away at a cost. During this tormented period, the unfortunate peasants of La Celle Saint Cloud like their neighbors of Rueul, Chalevanne, Lucienne, could hardly count on anything but themselves to defend their property and their lives. There was no regular army, therefore, nothing surprising if these compact bands of 4 to 500 pirates, led by determined leaders succeeded in making themselves masters, most often by surprise of important cities like Chartres, Orleans, Bordeaux, Nantes. It also happened that powerful lords were made pay by the Normans not to worry them in their depredations. It was above all badly defended churches and convents that the Normans attacked: "We sang them the mass of swords" they proclaimed after one slaughter of fewer or priests. And long after the alliance concluded between them and Charles the Simple in 912, by which the King of France ceded Normandy to them, the verse was still sung in churches: “From the fury of the Normans, save us Lord. . For three centuries from the 9th to the 13th century there was La Celle an important oxen market to supply Paris. Saint Louis, wishing to make his native town prosper, transferred this market to Poissy around 1260, where it still existed in 1875. Tradition has it that the forest road that we meet in the wood of the Hubies (Wisps, Werewolves) takes its name from "Road or oxen road" of the existence of this market which was probably held between the Bélébat and the Angle well.

More to come soon!

Source: departmental archives of Yvelines, code: 1T / MONO 7 [4], municipal monograph of La Celle-Saint-Cloud written by the Teacher in 1899.

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