Claville-Motteville

How on earth do you house a country vicar when his lodgings are deemed unfit even for cattle? In the early nineteenth century, finding a proper home for the local parish priest in Claville-Motteville turned into an utter headache.

Originally, the incumbents lived in an ancient curacy house. However, around the time of Father Gauvain, the dwelling was flatly abandoned. Father Delamare, the Dean of Clères, called it thoroughly unworthy of a clergyman, noting it was in a far worse state than the farm outbuildings of the neighbouring manor! Successive priests were consequently billeted in a cottage near the roadside calvary—a building later converted into the village girls’ school. Yet, this makeshift roof proved drafty, cramped, and dreadfully uncomfortable.

Come the 1830s, Father Désiré Capron had quite enough. A cracking horseman, he rode all the way to Motteville to lodge a personal complaint with the Comte de Germiny about his wretched living quarters. This sparked a comical misunderstanding: the old lord, convinced he had retained ownership of the house during the sale of the estate, advised selling it off to help the commune fund a new vicarage. Meanwhile, Frédéric Letellier, the new master of the manor, was utterly shocked, firmly believing he had already bought the property! To clear the air and end the impasse, Letellier agreed to pay over two thousand francs to purchase the house outright. On New Year's Day 1837, the church council drew the line: a brand-new vicarage simply had to be erected on church land.

The real breakthrough came with his successor, Father Louis Hyacinthe Petit. In 1840, the vestry took a bold gamble: they decided to sacrifice historical church property to raise hard cash. The old curacy house, its plot, and its garden were knocked down and given up. Over in Gouville, the abandoned presbytery (a sturdy building measuring 15 metres by six) was auctioned off on 21 August 1841 to farmer Vincent Drouin for 2,730 francs, while the old cemetery fetched 395 francs.

The builders set to work on the site of the demolished curacy house, right on the doorstep of the parish church. The final bill reached a hefty 8,693 francs and 67 centimes. With the local town council keeping its hands firmly in its pockets, funding the project was an incredible feat: the vestry poured in roughly 4,000 francs from land sales, the Comte de Germiny donated 2,000 francs, and Frédéric Letellier personally oversaw the build, dipping into his own pocket and rallying local gentry to bridge the shortfall.

When the rising stone walls reached three or four metres high, poor Father Petit was abruptly transferred to Belbeuf. Following Father Jouette’s fleeting tenure, Father Louis Barthélémy Lieury finally unpacked his bags in the finished presbytery in July 1843. Looking back, Father Cellier noted with a knowing grin that its finest feature remained, without doubt, its handy stone’s throw from the church nave!