Prochain point : Lat. 49.13157, Long.1.88863

THE SCHOOL AND THE TOWN HALL
On either side of the church

Searching for a school building…

Where the courtyard in front of the present-day town hall now stands, there was once the presbytery. It was seized by the municipality during the French Revolution and was later used for a time as both a school and accommodation for the teacher.
In 1819, a new school building was constructed against the church. However, it was strongly criticised by an inspector in the 1850s:
“The premises provided for the pupils are small, dark and unhealthy; there is barely enough room for a single blackboard, and there is no separation between the two sexes.”
Even more concerning, according to the inspector, was the fact that pupils had to cross the cemetery surrounding the church to reach their classroom, meaning that children “constantly walked over the ashes of the dead”.

…and a town hall!

In the mid-19th century, few French villages had their own town hall. Municipal councils usually met at the mayor’s home, which was probably the case in Commeny.
In 1870, the village resolved these issues by building a combined school and town hall, now occupied by the library. The classroom and the teacher’s accommodation were located on the ground floor, while the town hall occupied the first floor.
The teacher had responsibilities extending beyond education: he also served as the town hall secretary, maintained the church, and rang the bells. He ceased his religious duties in 1887, during a period when the French administration was increasingly separating itself from the Church.
The history of the former presbytery is less certain. It disappeared, and a bourgeois house was later built on the same plot. This building eventually became the town hall’s final location.