Sentiers du Patrimoine ®
Ableiges
L’Ancienne école de La Villeneuve-Saint-Martin
Traverser au feu pour emprunter la rue Jules Verne jusqu’à la place Gil Delamarre où se situe le panneau sur l’ancienne mare.
Prochain point : Lat. 49.07815, Long. 2.09917
Located next to the present-day school complex, the former school is a house built from limestone rubble and set back from the street. Although La Villeneuve-Saint-Martin is a hamlet of Ableiges, it had its own school, as well as its own church and cemetery. However, unlike the original medieval church, the school in La Villeneuve was constructed only after the hamlet was incorporated to Ableiges in 1834. This union was necessary due to the limited financial resources of La Villeneuve, a mostly farming community. Hence, until the mid-19th century, the local children would walk the 2.5 km separating the hamlet from the village centre to attend class.
The school in La Villeneuve was built in 1866 thanks to the dedication of François Vaudin, a native born in 1804. At the age of 11, he went to Paris as an apprentice, became a jeweller, and achieved a comfortable degree of financial security. Widowed and without heirs, he chose to fund the construction of a school in his home village. When his personal funds proved insufficient, he also launched a public subscription, enabling the school to be built and thereby improving access to education for the children of La Villeneuve. The building has since been restored by the commune of Ableiges and converted into rental housing. The present school complex is much larger than the original house but still bears the name of François Vaudin.
