Informations directionnelles

Remonter de quelques mètres le chemin de Préfontaines et bifurquer sur la gauche puis de nouveau à gauche. Au bout d’environ 500 mètres, emprunter un chemin sur la gauche. Dans le bois, vous longerez les fours à chaux.

Prochain point : lat="49.1216949999869" lon="1.75041"

A landscape of rolling hills

A long history

Unearthed ceramics show that human habitation in Genainville dates back to the Bronze Age. The name Genainville appears in writings as early as the Early Middle Ages in a degree made Queen Bathilde who, in 658, gave the lands of  Genet Villae to the Jumièges Abbey. The name has evolved over the centuries: Genetville and Geneth-ville in 658, Genestivilla in 849, Genesvilla in 1186 and Genevilla in 1338. Some historians believe that “Gene” comes from the germanic term “Gening”, while others trace it back to the latin “Genesius”. The second part of the name, “ville”, comes from the latin villa rustica, meaning rural domain. A literal translation would then give “rural domain of Gening or Genesius”.

A settlement at the base of a valley

Genainville stretches along the Vexin Français plateau, north of Buttes d’Arthies. Three small valleys are carved into the plateau by the streams of Préfontaine, Aunaie and Genainville. The village was initially founded in the bottom of the valley and grew up its slopes, without ever extending above the plateau's crest. The built area is small compared to the size of the cultivated land and woods. Together these represent a little over a quarter of the entire surface area, including Préfontaine, Aulnaye, Morlû and Vaux-de-la-Cellewoods, all that now remains of the great Arthies forest. Agriculture has always been part of the landscape, with the growth of cereals such as barley, corn, wheat and canola. Traces of long-ceased wine production can be discerned in the names of various localities, such as “la vigne à la dame”, “la vigne à Crognon” and “la vigne à l’Aubette”.

Isolated farms

The Bretèche and Moinerie farms were built on a isolated part of the plateau, south of the village. The 1743 map of the domain shows small manors, now long gone like that

of Launay, along with a dovecote, woods and an orchard. The Bretèche is an ancient manorial farmstead, dating back to the High Middle Ages. In 1819, the Moinerie consisted of 3 medium-sized buildings. The buildings of both these farms have been partially demolished or renovated mainly for agricultural use.