THE OLDEN DAYS

The house on the right was demolished; the one on the left still stands.

During our recent week or so in Le Grand-Pressigny, we met up with Gail and Chris who also have a lovely holiday home in the village. Chris has a super collection of old postcards of LGP. I always find things like this absolutely fascinating. As a little girl I loved sitting with my mother, aunt and grandmother listening to stories of the "olden days". Gail sent me a scan of the above postcard because I was especially interested in it. The house on the right was knocked down to make a proper road which is now the Rue du Four Banal. If you walk up the Four Banal today you can see the fireplaces on the wall, left behind when the rest of the house was demolished.

 

This is what was left behind when the house was knocked down.

I told Mme André about the postcard and she surprised me by saying she knew all about the house because she was born in the village before it was demolished. I thought that she had said she came to the village in 1956. I suppose that what she meant was that she moved into her cottage that year. That means that she should be able to tell us a lot about the village in the 20th century, if only we can ask the right questions.

Someone told us recently that our little house could have been built in the 1500's. Now that really is a long time ago and I would love to learn more about what has happened to the house and the village over the years and the centuries. Also what life was like in Le Grand Pressigny in the "olden days".