▲

"We think that our peasants started weaving hemp fabrics in the XVIth century. Agricultural works did not occupy them all year long and this new occupation helped them live better ...

However, our campaigns produced neither hemp, nor flax. It was necessary to go to Maine, Flanders, Brittany to get these raw materials... But we had no suitable trails around Vimoutiers.

With our ground where so numerous sources fuse, with our ravines and our small valleys, the slopes were hard, our perpetual muds and deep ruts made these ways impassable ... whilst horse, beasts of burden or donkey pulled carriages had to transport the loads.

Can one imagine the work it was to go and seek thus the threads which then had to be distributed to peasants distant from Vimoutiers? ... It is greatly to their credit that Vimoutiotes  succeeded in such an enterprise."JB*...:

"Le cretonne merchant"

 Museum of Orbec

... : From 1600 onwards, Vimoutiers and surrounding areas took importance from the Fabrics industry. In 1640, a weaver of Vimoutiers, Paul CRETON, invents a new fabric made of hemp and flax initially, then made of pure flax : the "cretonne", of which the combination is such that the chain being larger than the weft, the fabric presents a pearly grain. It obviously combines beauty, luxury and quality...

In 1700, another inhabitant of the area, Pierre AUBERT, invents a weaving loom especially for flax. Local industry is in full development ... Two launderers use the river of the village. But neither hemp nor flax are grown and coaches still cannot travel without any trouble. The fabrics made by peasants of a hundred surrounding parishes are brought to Vimoutiers, sold there to merchants who then bring them to Lisieux in order to have them marked. Vimoutiers enumerates 565 fires, that is to say about 2000 inhabitants.

Culture of flax in Flanders

►Paul Creton Street in Vimoutiers

Spinners at the distaff and

the spinning wheel,

winder to make the spools of threads,

and the "ball winder" !

In 1729, Vimoutiers obtained the right to mark/stamp its fabrics.

"Comes then to Vimonasterian traders, the idea that our borough should have a diligence to reach the main roads. But it meant to brave the hillsides of  la Hunière, la Bergerie or the trail of Livarot. They try to carry out their project and a first transport attempts vainly to link Vimoutiers to Bernay. An inhabitant, Mr Vicaire, tries to organize another one from Vimoutiers to Lisieux, but he must give up, considering the bad state of the trails"JB...

However Vimoutiers suffers from difficult supplies whereas Bernay and Orbec produce flax at much better cost for the town of Lisieux. And although Nicolas Lecoq opened in Vimoutiers a store supplied twice the week in flax which he finds in Lisieux, it is not sufficient.

..."The idea comes to Mr Billon to go and seek flax by stage-coach in Flanders. But he does not dare to launch out in this adventure : he fears the state of these ways which made Vicaire  miscarry on a much shorter course. And then maps are scarce, not very precise. At this time arrives to the borough the providential man : Mr Rosey, who returns from America ... yes, from America ! ... It is difficult to imagine now what that represented then. Billon talks to him about his project. Rosey decides to try the adventure with him. They leave both and the inhabitants await them in the fever...

What a triumph on their return ! What a welcome when their five horses pulled stage-coach, charged with flax, descends the slope of La Bergerie !" B/AP/JB

Their example is soon followed. The flax being supplied, if not at better cost at least in necessary quantity, stores prosper.

"Thence everywhere in our borough and campaigns, one could see grandmothers distaff in hand and the foot on the pedal of the spinning wheel, young girls and boys busy with the reel or making blades. One could hear the rotation of the warping frame and the sound of the shuttle activated by the father or the mother ... Thus everyone works under the same roof with family... "sic AP

From now on, the fabrics of Vimoutiers are either sold in the Halle or brought directly to Paris.

From 1780, Sainte-Anne, patroness of the textile merchants, is celebrated. It is a great festival, one sings, one dances and poor or rich, everyone takes part in it. In the 1780's, it is nearly 6000 pieces which are sold annually on the place of Paris and as an example, in 1789, more than 4.000 pieces are exhibited in the Halle of Vimoutiers.

 ► Pictures of Vimoutiers in a "basin"

"And yet, as the extract of the Register of Grievances describes it with relish: 

"… Trails are still deplorable! … and losses which the borough sustain due to the bad condition of the trails are more important than what is imagined. Grains of all species and edibles, building and fire woods, raw materials necessary to the fabrics manufacture, to arts and trades, and other imported products, are more expensive when transport is more expensive.

Trails are impassable during long and hard winters. The subsoil waters which spout out at mid-hillside form ices which spread all over their surface. We saw that during the winter of 1786, after five or six days of frost, a cart without any load, harnessed to four good horses which could not go uphill the way of Vimoutiers to Orbec, had to retrogress after three hours of efforts to cover a distance of perhaps ten "toises" (twenty meters). The difficulties with export are particularly prejudicial to fabrics, because these difficulties repel the foreigners who would come and make the purchase in the very place of manufacture, which is favorable to the seller. He proposes the sale with confidence, and always concludes it profitably. ... ►►

 ... It is considerably different when, thirty or forty "lieues" from home and laden with goods that he must sell, he depends upon the buyer and is obliged to sell at a loss. When the fabric is sold on the place of its manufacture, the purchaser who came to buy it does not return without having done it, so if he has paid it a high price, this increment value is reported to the consumer.

When, on the contrary, the fabric is sold on a distant spot, the salesman who did not make in vain the expenses of the trip, does not return without having sold it and if he does it at a loss, he reports the depreciation on the weaver, the spinner.

These comments are not metaphysics, and prove how much it would be desirable for the whole canton, that the accesses of Vimoutiers be passable, how much it would be profitable for all the fabric manufactures which are the resource and the life of the inhabitants.
If these ways were repaired and maintained in good condition, Vimoutiers would not be the only place to benefit : the parishes of its district would also find an advantage by transporting their cider, brandies, butter and cheeses, their only export trade, etc ..."

The bleacheries

▲

These large tanks in Vimoutiers

were used to bleach the fabrics

Drying and bleaching on meadows

▼

La Gosselinaie, maison Laniel

In 1806, takes place the foundation of the Laniel Fontaine House, laundry in La Gosselinaie, close to Vimoutiers which now counts 3300 inhabitants.
In 1806 and 1819, the reputation of the "Fabrics of Vimoutiers" is confirmed by their success at the Exhibition of the Products of French Industry in Paris.
 

In 1820, the village takes the name of "town" and for the occasion, a few streets are paved, but it is with the arrival of Stanislas Gigon Labertrie, mayor from 1830, that finally, suitable roads and bridges are built. Vimoutiers then counts 4200 inhabitants of which more than ten launderers. The annual average production is of 1500 pieces in this first half of the 19th century and, within a radius of five "lieues", this manufacture makes work 5000 weaving looms and about 20.000 workers. Textile reigns all over the area.

In the same economic field, from the end of the 18th century, the mechanization of the Textile Industry* is finalized in England whereas France opposes a great resistance to the industrial evolution, and the Franco-English conflict reaches its paroxysm. England created the first a system of industrial patents and thus prohibits the export of its technologies up to 1825.

"In 1844, the three brothers Alexandre, Alphonse and Eugene Laniel, feeling the upcoming  crisis and presurmising the ineluctable future of the mechanical weaving, send one of them to England, in order to study the question. The messenger returns enthused by what he saw. He persuades his brothers to buy a factory close to the railroad. They find in Beuvilliers, near Lisieux, what they need and there, settle the first mechanical weaving of the West area"JB

This weaving which rises fast, supplies the laundry of La Gosselinaie, artisanal workshop of which they take the succession and which they transform into a factory of bleaching in 1849. The factory of Beuvillers starts with 99 weaving looms and the laundry of La Gosselinaie extends quicky from 5 to 40 hectares.

Then Vimoutiers has still a large industrial importance but according to a speech of Doctor Delaporte in 1853 :

"The main commercial branch of the town and the rural population of the "canton of Vimoutiers" belongs to the manufacture of canvas fabrics known as cretonnes. But even if our production has become very important regarding the quantity of products, due to the use of the flying shuttles and the continuous rolling, of which Sieur Trosley Mathieu, one of our fellow citizens, is the inventor,  we have to admit that the linen industry has not progressed in weaving ..."

 * ►The Industrial Revolution

In 1860, England benefits the Free Trade Treaty to flood the French market with their production, this competition added to Belgian imports, the French industry must face the sudden shock of the foreign competition in the difficult context of the scarcity of  flax and  food shortage of cotton. For a time, productions decrease by almost half.

At the World Fair of 1867, Eugène Laniel is decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor for his fabrics ...

The same 1867 year, nearly 5000 weavers are listed in the area and C. Gauthier, in his book relating the various aspects of the geography of the department of Orne, presents Vimoutiers as one of the two most important manufacturing centers in the department, equaling Alençon.

He writes : "It is there  that are manufactured the beautiful fabrics known as cretonnes, of the name of Paul Creton born in Vimoutiers and who was the inventor".

In 1870, there are no more looms and Vimoutiers is no longer a true industrial centre, but the famous name of "Fabric of Vimoutiers" is reserved for the Laniel fabrics which obtained the monopoly by several judgments, preserving it thus from the public domain.

The factory of Beuvillers is in full rise as well as the laundry of La Gosselinaie which maintains the prosperity to Vimoutiers : "initially because after having adopted the mechanical weaving loom, the Laniel factory could modify it to preserve the smoothness of the grain obtained from the manual weaving loom, and furthermore because they went on practising the bleaching on our meadows."JC/MC

The Laniel factory will resist the two WW and will count up to 300 workmen and 250 weaving looms at the beginning of the XXth century.
However in 1953, it will close its doors whereas the Laniel family is at a political apogee, one of them, Joseph Laniel born in Vimoutiers, is actually President of the Council of Ministers. The closing of this factory marks the end of the textil industry in the area.

The regulation of 1738 having been removed, nowadays, the word of "cretonne" is misused for fabrics of flax and even very often of cotton. However, it still emanates from it a concept of solidity mingled to refinement.

►World's Fair

► Joseph Laniel, politician

Manifacturing the

Canvas of Vimoutiers

Harvest of the flax

Laniel factory in Beuvillers

Maison Grelbin

La Halle inaugurated in 1848

as the canvas market

The canvas markets

Initially in the open air, the trade are held later in a small market at the very emplacement of the Grelbin House, on the place vis-a-vis the communal oven, where the bread of the population is baked.

In 1718, the monks build a large market out of wooden, coupled with the Market of butcheries : ►map 1779

Just like for the use of the communal oven or the mills, the monks charge a duty on each sale, the droit de Halle.

In 1789, the market building is put up for compulsory sale as ecclesiastical property and the township buys it.
From 1803, the Market buidling being again too exiguous, the wholesales of cretonnes are held in the vault of the Hospice while waiting for the demolition and the rebuilding of the Market in 1813.

In 1840, the number of fabrics brought to the Market is such that a part of the Butcheries market, known as la cohue, must be assigned to this trade.

In 1846, a large canvas market is started to replace the once more too small current one  ... It is inaugurated in 1848.

Stamps of the fabrics of Vimoutiers

source J.Bard

Toile de Vimoutiers

The brands 

Circa 1728, in order to acquire their independence with respect to Lisieux, Vimonasteriens apply for an "office of visit" with right to mark/stamp the fabrics manufactured in the surroundings and sold in their market canvas building. They specify that their manufacture is amply sufficient to justify such an office ... The intendant of Alençon accepts this point of view and Vimoutiers becomes independent, with its office of visit, its marks, its "aulneurs" (measurers), its sworn-keepers. Each manufacturer pays 20 "pounds" per annum for the office open on May 5th, 1729".JB

In 1733 and 1734, regulation laws determine the widths, the number of warp-threads and the quality of the fabrics, and the regulation of January 14, 1738 stipulates that cretonnes must be of pure flax, advantageous requirement for Vimoutiers of which the cretonnes of this very quality, are already truly in vogue.

On December 30, 1766, an ordinance defines the mark of the "Fabrics of Vimoutiers" : two royal sticks in saltire.
In 1782, a law of the Council determines what Cretonne fabrics must be : Wowen Fabrics of flax of Vimoutiers.

Fabrics manufactured in Vimoutiers

Canvas or rolled fabrics :

Hemp fabrics initially rolled then folded from 1734 onwards in order to allow control by easy counting from the ends.
Shipowners of Bordeaux, Nantes, La Rochelle, Saint-Malo, Honfleur, le Havre would come and deal directly in Vimoutiers and products were dispatched to Spain, the colonies and ... to America. Thereafter the shipowners had recourse to commission agents, some of them not very scrupulous, which posed many problems of quality control in spite of numerous regulations.

Square fabrics or Vimoutières :

Hemp  or tow yarn fabrics, named thus because they were visited, marked and sold on the market of Vimoutiers. Each range had to have 40yarns.

Cretonne :

Fine fabric of flax whose origin is attributed to Paul Creton. Various widths according to the use for which they were intended, used mainly for houselhold linen. From 1855, fabrics for sheets without seam (!) are weaved.

Bourette :

Very solid fabric, made of linen tow, created in 1782 by Jean Rossignol. Blue for aprons, and also trousers known as Parisians. Up to the 18th century.

Others :

Weaving manufacture of Tailfer brothers in Vimoutiers, created in 1865, intended mainly for the army requirements during the war of 1870. End suspension 19th.

Trade marks, reflection of the evolution :

First half of the 18th century : 140 for the hemp fabrics, 23 for the flax fabrics

Second half of the 18th century : 46 for hemp fabrics, 97 for flax fabrics.

◄AP/AP-JB-CNAM►

Fabrics manufacturers and related occupations

 

F. Vaumesle 1740, Vimoutiers

Etienne Delahaye 1743, Camembert

Pierre Polin 1743, Crouttes

Pierre Demace 1743, Marmouillé

Jacques Robillard 1744, Mesnil Bacley

Pierre Dehave 1744, Vimoutiers

Robert Lapotaire 1748, St-Pierre la Rivière

Michel Chatel 1749, garde-jurés

Letourneur de Vaussery 1749, garde-jurés des toiles de lin

Jean Lesage 1749, Vimoutiers

Letourneur de Vaussery 1749, Vimoutiers

Eustache Hardy 1749, Vimoutiers

François Conard 1749, Crouttes, chanvre

François Lalizel 1750, Montormel, chanvre

Charles Dubois 1750,La Brévière

François Chop 1750, Fouqueran, chanvre

Pierre-Germain Delisle 1750, Vimoutiers

Pierre Jullien 1752, Vimoutiers, blanchisseur

Philippe Loutreuil 1752, Vimoutiers, chanvre

Thomas Le Drel 1753, Paroisse du château, chanvre

Pierre Gautry 1753, Paroisse du château, chanvre

Jacques-Constantin Corneuil 1754, Guerquesalles, lin

Pierre Castillon 1754, Louvagné, lin

Robert Guérin 1754, Guerquesalles, chanvre

Pierre Letourneur 1754, Vimoutiers, lin

Pierre-Germain Delisle 1754, Mesnil-Bacley, lin

Jean Beauvais 1754, Ste Marguerite de Viette, lin

Jean Dufour 1754, chanvre

Jean Lambert 1755, Chambois, chanvre

Jacques de La Roquelle 1755, Vimoutiers, lin

Etienne Lautour 1755, Ste Foy de Montgommery, chanvre

François Piquet 1755, St Pierre la Rivière, chanvre

François 1756, garde juré

Guillaume Monnier 1756, Mesnil Germain, lin

André Gentil 1756, lin et chanvre

Pierre Le Ferme 1756, Roiville, lin

Joseph Desvaux 1756, Vimoutiers, blanchisseur et Md

Guillaume Jouenne 1756, Ste Marguerite des Loges

Marin Rault 1756, Givray, chanvre

François du Coudray 1756, Malnoyé, chanvre

Jean Richer 1756, Osmont, lin

François Deshayes 1756, Ste Foy de Montgommery, lin

Nicolas Lecoq 1757, Vimoutiers, garde-juré

Adrian Lardant 1757, Livarot, garde-juré

Pierre Manoury 1757, Vimoutiers, chanvre

François Fournet 1757, Roiville, lin

Jean Gondouin 1757, La Chapelle Hte Grue, lin

Pierre Caly 1757, Ginay, chanvre

Jean Boule 1757, Notre Dame du Bois St Evroult, chanvre

Jean Morand 1758, Neauphes, chanvre

Jacques Le Coq 1758, Des Corches, chanvre

Louis Laisné 1758, Montfort, chanvre

Nicolas Lecoq 1758, Vimoutiers

François Leroy 1758, Camembert, chanvre

Marin-Jérosme Roux 1760, Malvoyé, chanvre

Nicolas Le Coq 1760, garde juré

Pierre Jullien 1760, Vimoutiers, blanchisseur et lin

Philippe Guerre, garde juré

Pierre Loutreuil, garde juré

François Le Cours, Regnoüard, chanvre

Henri Samin, Mesnil Bacley, chanvre

Jérôme Chastel 1763, Vimoutiers, lin

Robert Denis 1763, lin

Jacques Louvet 1763, Ligneries, tisserand

Pierre Lozé 1763, Ste Marguerite des Loges, lin

François 1763, Vimoutiers, lin

Louis Morand 1763, Ligneries, chanvre

Christophe Duchesse 1764, Heurtevent

Pierre Berthelot 1764, Vimoutiers, garde juré

Pierre Ollivier 1764, Ligneries

Louis Jouenne, 1765

Pierre Loutreuil 1765, lin

Jean Dufour 1765, lin et chanvre

Jean-Baptiste Renoult 1765, Livarot, lin

Jean-Baptiste Manoury 1765, Ste Foy de Montgommery, lin

Michel Lamy 1765, St Lomer, lin

Jean Le Mesle 1765, Montormel, chanvre

Nicolas Collas

Gabriel Campé

Pierre Réveillé 1770, Echauffour, chanvre

Pierre Duchesne 1767, Heurtevent

Jacques Roquette 1767, Bomprey

François Guerre 1767, garde juré

M.Châtel 1767, garde juré

Jean-Baptiste Coessin

François Masselin 1767, Vimoutiers, lin

Jean Choppe 1767, Fouquerant, lin

François-Eustache Jardin 1767, St Germain de Montgommery, lin

Germain Moissy 1767, St Germain de Montgommery, lin

Antoinne Touchet 1767, Ticheville, lin

Adrien Dubois 1767, Livarot, lin

Jean Chaumont 1767, La Brévière, lin

Charles Peubrey 1767, Crouttes, lin

Adrien-Charles Lardant 1767, Livarot, lin

François-Jacques Guerré 1767, Vimoutiers, lin

Pierre Grandval 1767, Camembert, lin

Jacques-Constantin Corneville 1767, Ticheville, lin

Pierre Ménil, aulneur, chanvre et grosse toile

François Vigan 1768, Champosoult, chanvre

Gérôme Chatel 1769

Jacques-Constantin Corneville 1770, toiles cretonnes

Jacques du Chesne 1770, St Michel de Livet, garde juré

Jean Coessin 1770, St Germain de Montgommery, garde juré

Jacques Robillard 1770, Livarot, lin

Jacques De Chesne, St Michel de Livet, lin

Jean-Henry de La Bigne

Jacques Corneville 1771

Jacques Hébert, lin

Jean-Baptiste Delaunay 1771, lin

Jean Sorel

Le Breton, Coudehard

Dubos, Coudehard

Jacques Desvaux, chanvre

Pierre Moisie, chanvre

 

Autres gardes-jurés de 1738 à 1786

Jean Dufour

Lesieur-Dulonchamp

Loutreuil-Dutailly

Beauprey de la Roquelle

Jacques Hébert

Jean Delisle

Michel Pernelle

Charles Aubert

Jean Challes

Eustache Boudin

Nicolas Guérin

Jacques Leroux

Thomas Dupendant

 

Autres Blanchisseurs

Pierre Lelasseur, quartier de la Clausée

De La Vende Delisle, La Fauvetière

Dupré, Cour des Maignants

Chevrel et Jacques-Colas Desrencontres, Les Clos-Tords

Fontaine Laniel, La Gausselinaie

Laniel, La Ribaudière

Rault, les Tuileries

Desvaux, Le Pont-Percé

Thomas Mézières, Canapville

Giraud, Pontchardon

Cauvigny, Canardeau

Lesieur-Bernardin, Les Clos-Tords

Loutreuil-Dutailly, Tuileries

Michel dit Lavarande, rue du Perré

Thomas Mézières, La Fauvetière

Greslebin, Les Clos Tords

 

Exhibitors - 1806 Paris

Mrs Ridel-Beaupré, Crouptes, Toiles, mention honorable

Mr P. Poussin, Vimoutiers, Toiles, mention honorable

Mr Jacques Hébert, Vimoutiers, Toiles, mention honorable

 

Exhibitors - 1819 Paris

François Ridel, Crouptes, toile cretonne, citation

Mr Lemeneur, Vimoutiers, toile cretonne, citation

Mr Yver, Vimoutiers, toile cretonne, citation

Delisle fils Germain, Vimoutiers, toile cretonne, citation

Mr Couture-Dubuisson, Vimoutiers, toile cretonne, citation

Mr Moulin, Vimoutiers, toile cretonne, citation

 

The above lists are not exhaustive and may be updated

The Cretonne, from here to beyond the seas :  "smart", "soothing" and "cosy"

Plain linen coat trimmed with cretonne, worn with a striped linen skirt :    "Paris Letter" Madame de Mantaigu May 1908 to ► McCall's Magazine

"Mme Roland opened a door on the right. "This is the bed-room", said she. She had devoted herself to its decoration with all her mother's love. The hangings were of Rouen cretonne imitating old Normandy chintz." Guy de Maupassant, Pierre and Jean   "When she had gone upstairs again, her bedroom especially enchanted her. It had been hung with delicate rose-colored Louis XVI cretonne by an Orleans upholsterer. Dear me, yes! One ought to sleep jolly sound in such a room as that; why it was a real best bedroom!" Emile Zola, Nana   "What he considered necessary was to cover all the furniture with cretonne, to put up curtains, to weed the garden, to make a little bridge on the pond, and to plant flowers." Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

What Girls can do with cretonne The Ladies'Home Journal, May 1908

*translated from JB/B/AP/CG/JC/MC/AB :

Jean Bard, Brion, A.Pernelle,C.Gautier,

J.Chennebois, M.Campion, Alfred Bell :

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