The local jailhouse

At the end of the market square, at the foot of the Capitol, there is a set of garages. They have replaced a small building whose appearance can be seen on old postcards and which perhaps some of Cailly's elders still have in memory.

Originally, it housed a covered market, one or two stalls and a small apartment.

In 1837, authorized by the royal ordinance of November 21, the municipality bought the market square, the butchers' halls, the covered market and the stalls.

The Mayor noting that "the market day often brings to the village drunkards or turbulent individuals who occasionally disturb public tranquility; that the means of repression at his disposal are not always sufficient to prevent the scenes of disorder which peaceful inhabitants rightly complain of; that to succeed in a more satisfactory way it would be necessary to have a room that could serve as both a guard and a prison.

The decision to turn part of the stalls into a guardhouse and prison was therefore taken and carried out. Perhaps this was enough to cool the ardour of the disruptors but the fact is that the very limited use (on market days and fairs) of the premises, made them unsanitary and the municipality had to consider a "ventilation service" whose cost was to burden the budget of the municipality.

This is when Sieur Bicheux, a newcomer to Cailly, a wig maker of his condition, who "learned of the need for this guard corps to be opened from time to time for its preservation, approached the Mayor and offered to do so on market days, Sunday and holidays, and also offered to pay the municipality a fee of five francs per month, provided that he was allowed to practice his trade there on the days above."

"Mr. Mayor who found this proposal very advantageous granted it provisionally, but on the condition that Sieur Bicheux would pay one month in advance to the municipal receiver and that he would restore this building as soon as it was required by the authority either for public order service or for any other cause, which he accepted and began to open and work there as early as September 11”.

This proposal was approved by the City Council in its deliberation of 8 November 1838 and submitted to the Prefect for approval.

Based on records of the Deliberations of the City Council from 1832 to 1840 - Transcription by Gilbert Leclerc