Le bourg de Sainte-Pazanne

Saint-Pazanne's origins

Prehistory
3,500 BC: the first traces of human habitation with this dolmen known as "la Roche aux fées", like many other megaliths, now in ruins.
The Port-Fessant dolmen, located 200 metres to the north-west on the Route Départementale 61, bears witness to the first traces of human occupation in the area around Sainte-Pazanne in the Neolithic period.

The effigy of the "Beast of Port-Fessant" is described by its inventor as a "monstrous figure carved in relief, very common in the region". This discovery was published around 1850.
It was studied thirty years later by a group of archaeologists, who concluded that it was a natural shape in the rock, in no way transformed by the hand of man.
In 1895, Orieux described it as a "large upturned dolmen", so many were the interpretations of the rock. While some believe it to be a dolmen, others see it as the ruins of a covered walkway, known as the "fairy gallery".
Clearly, this megalith has retained all its mysteries!

Antiquity
There is evidence that people lived on the Sainte-Pazanne site during the Roman conquest of Gaul.

Black and grey ceramics dating from the 1st century have been found,
as well as three buildings at La Briancière, in the village of Le Bois, dating from the 2nd century. One of them appears to be a signal tower.



The commune of Sainte-Pazanne from the Middle Ages to the Revolution

651: monks create a priory on the banks of the Tenu.
1284: Sainte-Pazanne is first mentioned as a parish.

The current area of the commune of Sainte-Pazanne was divided between several seigneuries. As a result, it came under different jurisdictions.
During the feudal period, the lords of Sainte-Pazanne had market rights. Three fairs a year were authorised.
An admission of 1784 states that the market was already held every Friday of the week.
A seigniorial market hall - the present-day building on the Place de la Hunaudais - was built around 1720 and served as a church during the French Revolution until 1819.

During the revolutionary period, the commune changed its name to Franchère. The reason for this is not specified, but we can assume that de-Christianisation was the cause. This was an episode in the French Revolution between the summer of 1793 and the spring of 1794. The aim of this movement was to erase all public traces of Christianity (particularly the Catholic version, which was the state religion of monarchical France until 1789).
12 April 1789: The Pazennais representatives, like others, ask in their list of grievances, in particular, for equal taxation and admission to public office, and express the wish that voting should be by head at the Estates General.

15 January 1790: The Constituent Assembly decides, on the advice of the deputies from Brittany, that this province will be divided into five departments and specifies in its session of 30 January, that the department of Nantes will have nine districts including that of Machecoul. This last district is made up of six cantons including that of Sainte-Pazanne (which will be its chief town), a canton which will include : Port-Saint-Père and Saint-Hilaire-de-Chaléons.


Modernisation of Sainte-Pazanne

The arrival of the railway in 1875 quickly developed the economic life of the commune (arrival of the first train from Pont-Rousseau, in Rezé). Many craftsmen and shopkeepers settled there.


The Nantes - Pornic line passed through Sainte-Pazanne.
The other Sainte-Pazanne - Machecoul line only opened the following year, in 1876.


Shortly afterwards, between 1877 and 1898, the present-day church was built, and in 2007 it was included in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments.
In April 1956, the relic of Sainte Pazanne arrived in the commune through an official transfer of a few bones. They had been found in a sacristy in El Escorial, Spain.

A new covered market was built in 1905 on the site of the old church in 1965.
From now on, the market will take place on the current Place du 18 juin 1940.

Since 1898, the streets of Sainte-Pazanne have been lit by colza-fuelled street lamps. The village warden would come and light them every day.
Electricity arrived in the village in 1910. The thirty lamps were lit from 10.30pm onwards.
An electricity plant was then built by the Compagnie Départementale d'Énergie Électrique next to the present-day town hall. The Société Nantaise d'Éclairage bought it in 1920.
Following the nationalisation of electricity production, transmission and distribution, it became part of EDF on 1 January 1947.

Mail had been delivered to Sainte-Pazanne since 1830.
However, it wasn't until 1866 that a post office was opened (at 24 avenue du Général de Gaulle). It was later moved to the current building. The PTT bought the premises in 1956.

In 1895, Sainte-Pazanne was given a gendarmerie brigade. It moved to 20 rue de la Gare.
A brigadier and three gendarmes took up their posts.
The current barracks were built in 1971.

A fire brigade was set up on 17 May 1925 following a devastating fire. A fire engine and equipment were purchased.


Source: www.shpr.fr, Le Patrimoine des communes de la Loire Atlantique (Edition FLOHIC, 1999)