Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, commonly known as Noirmoutier, is a French
commune, located on the island of Noirmoutier in the Vendée
department in the Pays de la Loire region.
The town extends
over the northern part of the island of Noirmoutier, formed by a
rocky islet (formerly called: "island of Her"), separated from the
rest of the current island by salt marshes.
The village, the
true “capital” of the island of Noirmoutier, is built on the
south-eastern side of this islet, overlooking the bay of Bourgneuf.
The port of Boucaud (“lock port” or “canal port”) separates the
urbanized areas from the salt marshes.
To the east, the
Müllembourg polder (now an ornithological reserve) is limited in its
southern part by the Jacobsen jetty, 1.5 km long. To the northeast,
stretches the Bois de la Chaize.
A large north-western part
of the territory of the town is occupied by fields devoted mainly to
market gardening, and in particular a variety of potato, the famous
bonnotte de Noirmoutier.
The territory of the municipality
also extends over some surrounding islands and reefs, such as the
Ile du Pilier to the northwest.
In addition, two towns are
integrated into Noirmoutier-en-l'Île:
L'Herbaudière which is
located on the northwest coast of the island, facing the Atlantic
Ocean, and whose port activity makes it the second fishing port in
the department, managed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of
the Vendée.
Le Vieil, located on the north coast of the island,
is a typical hamlet made up of traditional Vendée houses bordering
narrow streets, and which in summer becomes a popular vacation spot
for holidaymakers. A Nantes inventor, Brutus Villeroi, made the
first test of a French submarine there on August 12, 1832. A rue du
Vieil bears his name.
The municipal territory of
Noirmoutier-en-Île stretches over 1,997 hectares. The average
altitude of the municipality is 4 meters, with levels fluctuating
between 0 and 20 meters.
The Table dolmen is a submerged dolmen, located at sea, on the
Vendette plateau, among the mudflats of Bourgneuf bay and known
since 1892
the ruined Pointe de l'Herbaudière dolmen
Menhir of
the Pointe des Dames
Blanche Abbey in Noirmoutier
Noirmoutier
castle is famous for its architecture. It is indeed one of the rare
fortified castles to have remained the same since its construction
at the end of the 12th beginning of the 13th century. The keep was
built by Pierre de la Garnache, lord of the island, on the site of a
castrum dependent on the abbey, erected under the abbey of Abbot
Hilbod around the year 830. Noirmoutier castle is linked to the
history of the island. Constantly occupied by troops, it was
maintained and thus preserved. Under the Revolution, it served as a
prison for the Vendéens, then in 1871 for the insurgents of the
Commune. At the start of the First World War, foreigners from 26
nations were interned there, mostly students of great merit. Among
them, the Hungarian Aladár Kuncz, the famous author of the Black
Monastery. In 1940, he gave asylum to common law prisoners. German
supply center during the occupation, in 1945 it served as a prison
for its former tenants.
the parish church of Noirmoutier: is
dedicated to Saint Philbert, who founded the abbey of Noirmoutier in
this place around 674. The abbey church was first destroyed by the
Saracens in 725 or 732. The son of Charlemagne, Louis became king of
Aquitaine, obtained from his father in 801 the reconstruction of the
abbey and the cloister chapel. Forty-five years later, it was
destroyed again by the Normans in 846. It was then rebuilt at the
end of the eleventh century on the primitive chapel which is the
current crypt, it then only included the choir and the main nave. .
From the end of the fourteenth to the seventeenth century the right
and left naves were erected, it was consecrated in 1849. The
neo-Romanesque bell tower was built in 1875 to replace the old bell
tower which had been destroyed by fire in 1848. At the Inside, you
can admire a frigate model, made by a village clockmaker in 1802 for
Auguste Jacobsen. A stained-glass window represents the
Saint-Philibert de Tournus abbey (bay of the side nave).
the
crypt: it is located under the choir, it housed the body of Saint
Philbert between 690 and 836, when it was transferred, to
Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu, then to Tournus where the monks were
refugees after the Norman invasions in 875. A shrine on the altar
contains some relics of the saint transferred in 1863 when this
crypt was restored. It has been classified as a historical monument
since 1898.
the Chaussée Jacobsen: was built in 1812 by
Jean-Corneille Jacobsen de la Crosnière (1750-1834), son of Cornil
Guislain Jacobsen (1709-1787), who settled in Noirmoutier in 1740
and was the descendant of the corsair dunkirk d ' Dutch origin
Michel Jacobsen. This dike allowed the development of the salt
marshes, the creation of a towpath and a canal to access the port.
Along the canal is the boat cemetery. On the north side of the pier
is the Müllembourg Polder, an ornithological reserve where you can
observe many water birds such as brent geese and little egrets. At
the end of the jetty, which has been converted into a cycle and
pedestrian path, you reach Fort Larron.
the Chapel of Pity: at
the entrance to the roadway, on the left, at the height of the stele
erected in memory of J.-C. Jacobsen, creator of this dike, a Calvary
reminds us that in this place named la Vache, on January 3, 1794,
when the republican troops took over the island, the latter
massacred 1,500 prisoners of the Vendée armies, despite a promise of
life that had been given to them.
the Jacobsen hotel: it remains
the most important building in Noirmoutier. Built between 1761 and
1766 by Cornil-Guislain Jacobsen, it was the first of the
Noirmoutrine line.
the Boucheron or Lebreton-des-Grapillères
hotel: in 1767, the merchant François Boucheron obtained from the
Prince of Condé the authorization "to raise the face of the house by
him built" arguing that the heightening of the building should
contribute "to the decoration of the newly created Place d'Armes ”.
In 1790, the hotel became the property of the merchant Lebreton des
Grapillières, who gave it its name. It was the seat of the customs
administration in the nineteenth century, then a tourist hotel under
the name of "Hotel du Général d'Elbée".
Noirmoutier-en-l'Île
Sealand Aquarium
the Pointe des Dames lighthouse which is a
typical lighthouse house
the Bois de la Chaise, with an area of
93 hectares, located north-east of the town: It is made up of
mimosas, holm oaks, maritime pines and coves sheltered by rocky
cliffs, some of which are close to thirty meters high.
the Church
of the Sacred Heart of Herbaudière
In the second part of the seventeenth century, the island was a
hotspot for contraband tobacco, like Paimbœuf. In fact, Louis XIV
created in November 1674 a tobacco farm which bought tobacco in the
Antilles at low prices to resell at high prices, exposing itself to
competition from tobacco from Virginia. The imported stocks are then
sold on the continent by means of small boats called cats.
Until 1858, the territory of the municipality extends over the whole
of the island, then begins its fragmentation with the creation of
the municipality of Barbâtre, followed, some sixty years later, in
1919, by those of La Guérinière and L'Épine.
The town extends over the northern part of the island of
Noirmoutier, formed by a rocky islet (formerly called: "island of
Her"), separated from the rest of the current island by salt
marshes.
The village, the true “capital” of the island of
Noirmoutier, is built on the south-eastern side of this islet,
overlooking the bay of Bourgneuf. The port of Boucaud (“lock port”
or “canal port”) separates the urbanized areas from the salt
marshes.
To the east, the Müllembourg polder (now an
ornithological reserve) is limited in its southern part by the
Jacobsen jetty, 1.5 km long. To the northeast, stretches the Bois de
la Chaize.
A large north-western part of the territory of the
town is occupied by fields devoted mainly to market gardening, and
in particular a variety of potato, the famous bonnotte de
Noirmoutier.
The territory of the municipality also extends
over some surrounding islands and reefs, such as the Ile du Pilier
to the northwest.
In addition, two towns are integrated into
Noirmoutier-en-l'Île:
L'Herbaudière which is located on the
northwest coast of the island, facing the Atlantic Ocean, and whose
port activity makes it the second fishing port of the department,
managed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Vendée.
Le
Vieil, located on the north coast of the island, is a typical hamlet
made up of traditional Vendée houses bordering narrow streets, and
which in summer becomes a popular vacation spot for holidaymakers. A
Nantes inventor, Brutus Villeroi, made the first test of a French
submarine there on August 12, 1832. A rue du Vieil bears his name.
The municipal territory of Noirmoutier-en-Île covers 1,997 hectares.
The average altitude of the municipality is 4 meters, with levels
fluctuating between 0 and 20 meters.
Toponymy
The history
of the town is strongly linked to that of the island of Noirmoutier.
In 674, the monk Saint Philibert founded a monastery there. In
Latin, the term in + Herio Monasterio, that is to say: "at the
monastery of Herus" (Herus now designating the "island of Her") will
be originally named "Noirmoutier" .
During the Revolution,
the town, then called Noirmoutier, was called Île-de-la-Montagne.
From 1956, the town which until now was called simply
Noirmoutier (or Noirmoutiers) takes its current name.