Clamecy by the waterside Preview

Discover Claude Tillier's works.

Before you is the bust of Claude Tillier which was unveiled in 1905 in the presence of Mr Bienvenu-Martin, then Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts and Religions.

Claude Tillier, a pamphleteer, novelist and journalist, was born in clamecy in 1801. He was the author of Mon Oncle Benjamin which was made into a film starring Jacques Brel in 1969.

The plinth was originally placed some meters higher but was moved and its fountains put back in operation when the street was restored in 2011-2012.

At the café called A Mon Oncle Benjamin you can see some murals illustrating this novel by Claude Tillier which were painted in the 20th century by Robert Puyard, a local artist.

Discover the ancient medieval walls of Clamecy

You are now coming to the old town walls. The passage you came through links the upper town to the lower town.

Discover the " old canal du Nivernais "

On your right you can see a house called "La Grand'Cour" overlooking the square. This classic building with its majestic pediment dates from 1742 and has been owned by several Clamecy wood merchants. On the edge of the property is a pigeon loft.

Try and imagine below the Canal du Nivernias which flowed across the town from the Port des Jeux.

Discover the story of the canal and the logs floating.

Here you will discover the Canal du Nivernais and it's marina. Building work on the canal began in 1784 but was interrupted during the French Revolution and finally ended in 1843. Designed to float logs from the forests on the Loire and Seine basins. In about 1835, the canal crossed Clamecy from the harbour to Avenue de la République. This portion, unhealthy and not easily navigable, was filled in between 1899 and 1902.

The Canal du Nivernais is today solely used for pleasure boats.

Notice the Jeux lock and its pivoting bridge.

Let's spend a few minutes on this trade.

At the very beginning of the 16th century, the growing economy and population of Paris led to shortages of firewood in the city. So the capital turned to the Morvan and itd forests. But how to get the wood to Paris except on wagons, which would cost far too much?

After several tries at making the Yonne's rivers and tributaries floatable, the first raft of logs finally reached Paris in the mid 16th century.

The logs were thrown into the Morvan streams below the upstream lagoon openings and the floated down the Yonne to Clamecy. This trade lasted nearly four centuries. Its amazing history is recounted in one of the rooms in Clamecy museum. Be sure not to miss it.

Discover "le pertuis" of Clamecy and the story of Jean Rouvet

The Clamecy lock is on your right. This piece of navigation engineering was used to control the level of the river, stop the logs or open the sluices to let the water though and carry away the log rafts.

On the spur between the Yonne and the canal is the bronze bust of Jean Rouvet; it was owing to him that log floating could develop. The bust stood on the Bethléem bridge from 1828 to 1945 and was the work of the famous sculptor David d'Angers.

An anecdote about it is that, because not enough funds could be raised for the work, the artist suggested using a bust of Napoleon and changing its clothing to make it a bust of Jean Rouvet. And that's what happened.

Discover the Bethléem district

On the other bank is the church of Notre-Dame-de-Bethléem, built in 1926. It was the second reinforced concrete one in France after Le Raincy and was designed by the Nivernias architect Georges Theodore Renaud. Its domes and rounded buttresses give it an oriental look. In 1223, Reyner, the 9th bishop of Bethlehem in Palestine took refuge in Clamecy after being hounded out of the Holy land and it was thus that the little bishopric of Bethléem les Clamecy was founded. It lasted until the concrdat of 1801.

On the side of the bridge you can see the marks of high waters of the Yonne carved into the stone. The Yonne pours into the Seine an average of 93 cubic metres of water per second. As the output of the Yonne is greater than the Seine's at their confluence, geographically speaking the Seine is actually a tributary of the Yonne.

At the end of this road you can see a big dignified house. It is very typical of the kind of homes the affluent bourgeois of Clamecy had built in the late 19th century and was built for Victor Morillon, who ran a flourishing canal freight business. His monogram "VM" can be seen below the top of the 3rd dormer window. He an another Clamecy freigther called Corvol set up the Morillon Corvol company to carry materilas on the Seine to building sites in the Paris area.

You are now in Rue Jules Renard, named for the author of the famous Poil de Carotte ( Carrot head).

Born in Chitry les mines near Clamecy , Jules Renard based his novel on his Nivernais childhood. The existence of this street was made possible in 1838 wheb the course of the arm of the Yonne here was filled in.

On the Bethléem bridge you can see the statue of a log driver with his hook, a long handled tool used catch the logs and push them back into the current.

On Place de la Gravière you will find the traditional Clamecy pottery made by Colas, the same family as Alain Colas, the famous Clamecy sailor who won the 1972 single-handed Transatlantic race and vanished at sea on the Route du Rhum in 1978.

Discover the Saint Nicolas fellowship

A little way along are the former premises of the Laballery printing works, now occupied by the local radio station Flotteurs FM, the Saint Nicolas fellowship and other clubs and societies. You can visit the fellowship eco-museum on request at the tourist office. Saint Nicoals is the patron saint of sailors and log drivers. The fellowship was founded in 1737. Its purpose now is to conserve and display the history of log floating using scale models, exhibitions and animated stories.

This is where the logs came higgledy-piggledy down the little Sauzay and Beuvron rivers to the harbour of Clamecy. The street at right angles to the Beuvron is where the Canal du Nivernais used to be.

Discover "Le Quai des îles"

The road you just have crossed is Avenue du Général Leclerc which was built in 1866 for the new railway station. The post office is also in this street.

You are on Quai des îles which once housed a succession of mills and tanneries. Notice the weir of the old Nouhaud mill where the millrace went under the road.

Discover the old Royal Military School.

On your left is the back wall of the old royal military school which is now home to the Francois Mitterrand media library and the scince society.

Discover the Beuvron dam.

Here is the Beuvron dam. Before 1884, it only had a wooden plank 40cm wide with no guardrail set on stones rising above the top of the dam, some of which still exist, for the millers to work the hatches.

Discover the parc Vauvert.

You are now in Parc Vauvert. Take a walk round the mansion. This property of several hectares used to belong to prominent Clamecy citizens, including the Marquis d'Argence and the Tenaille-Saligny family. It became local council property in 1943. In 2007, substantial work was done on it to house the community centre and leisure centre. The parks and gardens departement, which is close to the mansion, has spared no effort to make it a pleasure park and sports area.

Notice the arms of Clamecy in the ironwork at the top of the gate. They first appeared on the seal of Guillaume IV, count of Nevers and Auxerre and lord of Clamecy, which is why all three towns have the same armorials. The seals of the provost of Clamecy took over these armorials in the 13th century ans the town used them until the French Revolution. The local council officially adopted them again on 6 August 1809.

In front of you is the tower of Saint Martin collegiale in Flamboyant Gothic style. You can see the tricolour flag flying at the top. In the days of the Revolution, public buildings, and Saint Martin in particular, displayed the Phrygian cap. When the Convention gave way to the Directoire it was decided to wipe out all memory of the Terror. So in 1795 the Directoire ordered the town to remove the Phrygian caps from public buildings and put up a metal flag with the three colours instead. After many years of use, it was replaced by a cloth flag which has floated in the wind ever since.

Admire the stone cross on the Beuvron bridge. It was erected for the jubilee parades in 1851.

The bridge dates from 1850 and replaced the 16th century one which had no guardail and was the cause of many accidents. In 1775, a merchant saw his horse fall over the edge, sweeping its cart and driver into the water. You are on Quai des Moulins de la Ville which the council has recently renovated. Onward from the little postern passageway on your left were mills backing onto the ramparts. They are assumed to have been built by the counts of Nevers between the 8th and 10th centuries.

After several modernisations, the mills finally stopped working around 1960. Terraced gardens were laid out on the edge of the ramparts as well as a private bridge which allowed its then owner to reach the meadows.

You are now on the Abreuvoir bridge which the town built around 1813 to replace a wooden footbridge. it gets its name from the horse trough before it.

You are now on Place de Victoires, the last point on the tour. As you can see, the car park on Place des Promenades has been laid out using the town walls.

A road was built in the mid 18th century to prevent wagons from crossing the town centre. It was called Rue de la Mirandole in 1833 after an Italian town of this name where, it is said, Clamecy discovered this type of fortification with a bank of earth in front of the walls, simimlar to the Clamecy promenades.

Before you go, we suggest you take a last look at the town in the panoramic view you can see if you go the end of the Place des Promenades car park. You will see part of the tour from another angle.