How to trace the history of your village in France

There is still much original research to be done in France, unlike in the UK where local antiquarianism and the conservation of heritage became a passion of rural parsons during the 18th Century.

In France, the urge to conserve the past developed much later. Perhaps, also, there were just too many undervalued monuments to be catalogued.

Well into the 20th Century village councils were selling their ancient cloister stones and other artistic treasures to roaming American buyers, and neglecting to preserve and collate vital documents.

Departmental and national archives are full of handwritten documents (some but not all digitised), waiting for anyone with a niche interest – a particular church, or a particular house and its inhabitants – and the patience to spend hours deciphering complex scripts and sorting out the useful information from the extraneous.

Where to start

A reader recently contacted us after buying a property in Saint-Romain, in the Charente department of south-west France.

The village was home to some 511 people as of 2020, according to state statistics agency, Insee.

The reader hoped to discover more about its history, or that of nearby Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, and asked how to go about it. 

His own research had so far yielded very little beyond the usual tourist material.

Finding historical information can be something of a treasure hunt, involving piecing together facts from a variety of sources. 

A good place to start any search is on the village's official website, or that of its mairie. We discovered an old photo of the village on commune-de-saint-romain.com, for example.

Local newspapers can also be a good place to look. Charente Libre covers the whole department but you can search for particular places and find any articles that mention them. 

We discovered a link between French novelist and screenwriter Pierre Véry and the village in an article on the Charente Libre website. There is even a ‘Pierre Véry trail’ between Aubeterre and Bellon via Saint-Romain; the footpath is marked with the writer’s image. 

For particularly tiny villages, such as Saint-Romain, it is worth widening the search to other towns and villages nearby.

Neighbouring Aubeterre-sur-Dronne has its own website as well as an official website for its most notable historical site, an underground church. 

Other resources

Departmental archives

Each department has its own archives and searching these, either online or in person, can be a good way to discover more detailed information, from census records to maps. Charente archives can be accessed here.

Historical associations 

Historical societies or associations can be a valuable source of information about your area. 

The association Anonymes, Justes et Persécutés durant la Période Nazie (AJPN) details that Aubeterre-sur-Dronne was very close to the demarcation line separating the Free Zone, held by the Vichy government, and the Occupied Zone, held by the Nazis, during World War Two.

It describes a little of what life was like for people living in the area during that time. 

Facebook groups 

Historical Facebook groups are also worth investigating, with locals sharing old photographs or stories online. There is one such group for Aubeterre-sur-Dronne.

Museums 

Local museums can be a great starting point for discovering the history of an area. The Musée d’Angoulême is also home to the municipal archives. 

This is split into three collections, spanning pre-1790, 1790-1982, and 1982 to the present. 

Historical websites

There are hundreds of useful historical websites to help in your search. One example allows users to find historical maps of their area, and compare them to contemporary maps to see how their village might have changed. 

Cartes Postales Anciennes, meanwhile, has a collection of historical postcards from departments across France. The genealogical website Geneanet also has a large collection of postcards. 

We also found the website Memorial 16 useful in chronicling the work of the Resistance in Charente during World War Two. 

Libraries 

The digitised archive of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica, has over 10 million items, from photographs and maps to newspapers and magazines that can help with your historical research.