SaintAubin

The origins of the neighbouring towns called SAINT-AUBIN-SUR-MER,
BERNIERES-SUR-MER go far back in time. Stone, iron and bronze artefacts
have been discovered in many places. Long before the Roman occupation, the
region, easy to protect from invaders coming from the sea, was inhabited by
people who tilled the fertile soil.

Under the Romans, at a place called TOMBETTE because a necropolis was
found there, there was a VILLA with a wideview over the sea. If an enemy
approached, its inhabitants could warn the soldiers on duty in fortifications down
on the sands.

The old road going from TOMBETTE to the fort built on the CAP ROMAIN can
still be seen at about one mile from TAILLEVILLE.

At the mouth of the SEULLE river, approximately where RIVEPLAGE now
stands between SAINT-AUBIN and BERNIERES, there was once an important
harbour used for trade in times of peace and for defence when danger
threatened. This harbour disappeared, the sands gradually taking over, and the
SEULLE had to find another outlet. Further back it finally met the sea in the
picturesque port of COUSEULLES. An underground streamlet still passes,
unseen, through SAINT AUBIN (following rue Foch and rue Canet).

Circa 1830, sheltered by the cliffs of the CASTEL, in those days jutting out
towards the sea more formidably, a few modest fishermen's huts formed a
small hamlet called SAINT AUBIN. It was part of the parish of LANGRUNE.

Some ten years later its population had grown to 1400. The hamlet was large
enough to have a priest of ifs own. The one who came in 1844 was a young
man fired with enthusiasm. Ambitious for his parishioners, overpowering
organiser, builder, beggar, diplomat, ABBE BOSSARD was to be the real
founder of the town of SAINT AUBIN. A church was needed. The poor fishermen
of the hamlet could offer but a meagre contribution, ABBE BOSSARD went
around collecting gifts and donations, in Normandy but also in Paris and even in
Great Britain. His eloquence was persuasive and the church on the hill was built,
with its fine steeple called 'the needle' by the people of neighbouring towns used
to the squat Norman towers of their old churches.

Still the hamlet was exclusively inhabited by fishermen and their families. All
valid men young and old, left in March to fish on the high seas while mothers and
wives stayed in the hamlet waiting for their return two months later. It was only
towards the end of the century, when it became fashion for city dwellers to go to
the seaside, that vacationers began to build summer residences around the
hamlet.

But before that the hamlet had to become a town in its own right. Again ABBE
BOSSARD must be named since he was responsible for the promotion. And
when, at his request, Prince Napoleon Bonaparte granted SAINT AUBIN the
township, it was ABBE BOSSARD who was asked to choose the first mayor.
SAINT AUBIN has grown and prospered ever since.

The uninterrupted human occupation of the region through the centuries has
made it an interesting area for archaeology. In the early 18th Century, near
CASTEL, diggings uncovered the foundations of a large building divided into
small units. Within what had been a well were found some vases, pieces of
pottery and coins dating back to Claudius Tralan and Constantine the Great.

In 1920 again near the CASTEL, after a landslide, more pottery, an amphora and
a bust of Tercicius the Young came to light. The same landslide revealed
several pre-Roman hearths. Later, between 1940 and 1944, unaware they were
repeating history, the Germans, having chosen the site of CASTEL to build a
defensive blockhouse, tore down several houses and started digging trenches.
In the process many more antiquities were found, among which a sepulture
containing a few skeletons. But most interesting was the discovery of an
exceptional statue. Made of local lime-stone, more than four feet high, it was
retrieved from a well where it had been thrown in pieces, most probably
because it was too large to go down otherwise. The absence in the well of a few
missing chips proves it was broken first. Nevertheless the essential was there
and it was easy to assemble the parts. The statue represents a pagan Mother
Goddess. She was sifting, and on each side was a child, holding her garment.
Of the children little remains, a curly head on one side, practically nothing on the
other. The mother wears a 'peplum' with a sash round the waist; on her feet are
sandals.

Copy of literature from Office du Tourisme, Saint Aubin sur Mer.