The town Hall

On 10 February 1881, the municipal council decided to bring a halt to the continual repairs to the old school and to build a new mixed school house with accommodation for the teacher. It would be built on the communal square that belonged to the village. The town hall would also be housed in this building.

The architect Mr. P. Lecoeur, drew up the plans, in concordance with the demands imposed by the primary education authorities. The estimated quote came to 19000 francs. On 29  January the works were adjudicated:

the first lot of work, the masonry, was allotted to Mr. Narcisse Brillon, a Frichemesnil carpenter, the second lot, the carpentry, was given to Mr. Pierre Farcy, a carpenter from Clères, the third lot, the roofing, to Mr. Elénore Fortin, a roofing specialist from Bosc Le Hard, the fourth lot, the woodwork, was given to Mr. Eugène Botté, from Clères, as was the the 5th, the locksmith work, and the 6th lot, painting and glazing, was given to Mr. Beaudet of St Victor l’Abbaye.

The main building was the teacher’s house. It included a dining room, a kitchen, a large bedroom, a cellar and a pantry. On the first floor were two bedrooms with fireplaces, a small bedroom, a linen room and a bathroom. Above this floor was a loft. Behind the house was the classroom with two lunch basket areas. There were  no school canteens at this time and children' s home prepared lunches had to be stored in dedicated areas. The classroom could accommodate 40 pupils (there were 36 in 1881). 

There were two playgrounds, one for girls and one for boys, a laundry room and a wood shed. Finally, toilets for the teacher and for the children were built at the end of the school yard.

Financing this work was difficult for the commune;

• selling off some unused roads, owned by the commune, raised 1500 francs.

• the sale of the old school to Mr Delarue in 1882 raised 1500 francs

• an extra tax of 4 centimes on direct taxes was imposed to enable the reimbursement, over 30 years, of the 5000 franc loan taken out from the primary school, college and high school construction bank.

Finally, a subsidy of 4000 francs from the department and another of 7000 from state funds helped to increase the budget.