The covered market

No date figures on the old beams of the covered market. However, in 1195 a charter from Richard the Lionheart, Duke of Normandy and King of England, granted Matthieu, Lord of Clères, the right to hold a market on Tuesdays.

The covered market belonged to the lords of Clères up until the 19th century. During the revolution however, local communes were allowed to buy covered markets from lords. The commune of Clères did not have enough money for this and the market remained the property of its lords until 1875.

At the time of the succession of the Bearn family the town decided to buy the market during a council meeting on July 22nd 1873. In 1877 Hippolyte Lemarchand became mayor of Clères and, as a passionate scholar of history, and a writer of different works about the communes in the Clères canton, he decided to create a library in 1881 and a museum in 1885 on the first floor of the covered market. This converted floor was later used as a reception hall for free use once a year for local associations and twice a year for the local brass band. It could also be hired for charity galas or concerts.

Unfortunately, after the death of Hippolyte Lemarchand in 1898, neither the library nor the museum was expanded, as Spalikovski regrets in his writings about Clères, ‘In the mind of the founder of the museum, this latter was destined for the teaching of history. To set the example to follow he had, in his special files, grouped together all the information he possessed about each of the 22 communes in the administrative area. But when a creative soul fades away there is never a sister soul to continue the work. The hiatus appears, after so much effort that seems to be useless since it is not continued and this is what happened here’. All the works were finally dispersed.

In the Clères monograph written for 2000 we found some interesting information about these collections: ‘the library was created in 1887 with subsidies from the department, as was the museum. The library contained 2413 books and 300 brochures, the museum had 1718 objects (old earthenware, china, Roman pottery, minerals and other) not including the 525 coins and medallions. A lot of them were pillaged, especially during the war’.

In 1995 and 1996 students from the college rediscovered the old library collection of 1300 works dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Over two years and with the support of two of their teachers, 5th and 4th year students restored, classified and catalogued these works. The work concluded with a historical, geographical and cultural exhibition illustrated by books and panels about Clères.

Since March 2000 some of these works have been displayed in a cabinet in the town hall and the rest have been archived. In this way Hippolyte Lemarchand’s work has not been completely lost.

At the beginning of the 20th century the market became a centre for local activities and a play area for children.

Today the covered market is used for all sorts of events; the daffodil festival every spring, the medieval festival every two years with a banquet seating 100 people, plant-swapping twice a year, veteran car rallies, motorcycle rallies on Sunday mornings and picnics.

Today it remains at the heart of Clères social events.