Last modified: 2021-06-14 by ivan sache
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Flag of La Bernerie-en-Retz - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 24 May 2021
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The municipality of La Bernerie-en-Retz (3,016 inhabitants in 2018; 608 ha) is located 40 km south of Saint-Nazaire.
La Bernerie and the neighboring villages were once dependent of the parish of Les Moutiers-en-Retz. From the 16th century, La Bernerie became prosperous thanks to its fishing port and its shipyards, where most of the "chattes" of the Bay of Bourgneuf were built, as boats inspired by the old Viking ships, without prow or stern and with flat bottoms, suited for sailing in the Breton Marsh to the south). The piers (large ditches in the marshes) being very narrow, the "chattes" could not turn around when reaching their ends; accordingly, the fishermen removed the rudder from the stern to install it in the front and thus set off again in the other direction. These boats made of La Bernerie "the most important location of the region of Nantes for maritime trade and fishing", as stated in 1688 by Intendant Louis Béchameil de Nointel.
The municipality of La Bernerie was established on 23 March 1863.
Iron-bearing springs, no longer active, attracted people; in the middle of the 19th
century, wealthy people from Nantes made the "Côte de Jade" their vacation
spot. Jean-Simon Voruz, a Nantes-based founder, built an estate on the edge of the Roche-Grise cliff, near Crè:ve-Cœur. In 1875, the inauguration of the Nantes-Pornic railway line made of La Bernerie one of the most popular sea resorts on the coast.
Olivier Touzeau, 25 May 2021
The flag of La Bernerie-en-Retz (photo,
photo) is white with the municipal coat of arms, "Or a cross sable a tower argent masoned sable charged with an ermin spot of the same a chief azure a sailboat ona wavy barrulet argent. Beneth the shield a scroll argent inscribed with the motto "Pictonum Virtus Britonum Fides" (Latin: the courage of the people from Poitou, and the loyalty of the Bretons).
The arms, designed by Bernard Roy, were adopted on 21 April 1929 by the Municipal Council and officially registered on 17 March 1971. They are based on the arms of Pays de Retz, "Or a cross sable", while the ermine spot represents Brittany. The boat in chief is a faithful representation of the aforementioned "chatte".
[Ouest-France, 2 May 2012]
Olivier Touzeau, 25 May 2021