Being a little superflous to requirements here at the moment (not, mind you, at feeding time) I snuck out this afternoon for a little stroll in the village.
It was informative.
First bit of luck was that the door of the church was open so I got a chance to take a few more pictures of the interior.
A Carved Angel on the choir
The Choir stalls
A handsome Armoire which has some unknown function at the back of the church.
But there in the list of the dead of WW1 I found our own Rene Lentheric, he after whom our street was named.
I had read somewhere that he was one of the youngest casualties of the war but suddenly I was discovering that he was a Captain, not a rank given freely to a young requit.
Then as I left the church was further proof of my mistake, the same Rene’s dates on the sign on my street. Far from being a youth our Rene was 33 years old when killed. It now strikes me that maybe it was not that he was the youngest but one of the first casualties.
On the Street again gave me a chance to snap a couple of doors
And then , the answer to a question which I had voiced just a few days ago.
As we were living in the old centre of the town, next to the church, where had the original Mairie been- given that I knew that the new Mairie dated just from the 1900s.
A chance glance at the side of a building answered my question.
This was the Mairie of Thézan in the 1700s
This building I passed every morning with the bread is only around the corner from us.
Obvious once you know.
Comments
Peter Denman
on April 21, 2009Nice photos, Martin – but never mind the handsome armoire in the church, I’d like to know what’s in those flagons alongside it! Generous helpings of altar wine, perhaps?
Anyway, prompted by your musings on Rene L, I googled my way into the Thezan site (although the first hits in a search using his name directed me back to your blog, of course). He was a “caporal”, and a municipal counsellor, it seems, and Thezan was the first commune in France to erect a “monument aux morts” in WW1 – in December 1914, with two dead. And – I liked this, given your next day’s blog – to call up the menu on the home page of the site there is a picture of a door-knocker with an invitation to “tapez” thereon.
Martin
on April 21, 2009The smart flagons by the armoire are in fact cylinders of portable gas which the church uses in heaters in the winter. It would be nice to think they were some exotic drink.
Thanks for the info on our Rene. There is a village about 20 klms away called Lentheric and my guess is that his family came originally from there. (and also perhaps the founder of the beauty products industry)
martine joulia
on April 22, 2009http://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/spip.php?page=base_liste
If you use the link above, you will find your Lentheric’s death sheet (if I may call it that way) : clicking on the name in red.
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