Le Saviez-vous ? - Les Sables d'Olonne

The semaphore

The semaphore kept an eye on sea users!

It was on 23 May 1864 that the semaphore station was commissioned on a high point of the Chaume dune known as "les dunes de la Vigie". At the time, its telegraphic capabilities made it the only communication channel between ships and land on the Sablais coast.
Although the first surveillance systems for French ships were set up at the request of Napoleon I, it was only when the semaphores were reactivated in 1862 that it was decided to install the one at La Chaume. It was part of a vast network of 162 new semaphores built along the French coast, most of them before 1875. They were equipped with a telegraph to enable ships to transmit their communications, and were involved in rescue operations and gathering meteorological information.
Séraphin Chaigneau, an entrepreneur from Chaum, was commissioned to carry out the work. He built a T-shaped building, with the part facing the ocean raised by one storey to form a tower with a flat roof. It contained a total of 3 flats and a room on the first floor dedicated to surveillance and communication.
It was under the responsibility of a chief lookout and a lookout in charge of monitoring the Chaumoise coastline and the entrance to the port. They used two types of language: by means of a 'Dupillon'-type panel mast located on the roof terrace, they could emit signals based on the positions of the mast's articulated arms. This was complemented by a second mast placed forward for the signals of the "international code of signals" dating from 1856 and based on coloured flags that could be converted into letters or words.
It was later equipped with the "Bréguet" dial telegraph system, which was eventually replaced by the Morse system at the end of the 19th century.
The La Chaume semaphore station was decommissioned on 30 June 1952. The town later acquired the land and then the semaphore itself on 10 October 1974.
From 1978 to 1997, the site was converted into a youth hostel before being sold and transformed into a tourist residence. The building is now divided into several private properties.

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The tides

It's THE question of the holidays: "high tide" or "low tide"?

In reality: neither, because the word "tide" doesn't refer to the level of the sea but to a movement.
We should therefore say "low tide" or "high tide".
To organise your seaside holiday, choose the right time to go to the beach and avoid finding your belongings washed away by the ocean, it's essential to understand how the tides work.
First of all, tides are an astronomical phenomenon, not a meteorological one. Tides are the result of the gravitational pull of the moon and sun on the oceans. Depending on the position of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun, the forces of attraction of the two stars can work together or against each other. If the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned, their forces combine to create spring tides, or high tides; conversely, when the Sun and Moon are at a 90° angle to the Earth, their forces of attraction cancel each other out, creating low tides or neap tides.
To fully understand the tidal phenomenon, we need to talk in terms of lunar days: the moon takes 24 hours and 50 minutes to circle the Earth, which is why the tides are shifted by around 50 minutes each day. There are 2 high tides and 2 low tides per lunar day. It takes 6 hours and 12 minutes for the sea to ebb, then rise again, then fall again, then rise again... remaining for a few minutes at "slack water" before the next movement of water.
The tide directories indicate the times of the tides and their amplitudes. To assess the tidal range, i.e. the difference between high and low tide, there is a scale of measurement invented by the scientist Pierre-Simon de Laplace: tidal coefficients. Tides are therefore rated from 20 for exceptional neap tides to 120 for very high tides.
At the time of the Spring and Autumn equinoxes, the Sun exerts a stronger pull on the Earth than during the rest of the year because of its alignment with the equator. Its position in line with the Moon and the Earth amplifies the tides, which are referred to as great equinox tides. In practical terms, in Les Sables d'Olonne, the sea goes down a long way and rises very high near the buttresses of the embankment on these days.
You can also observe these water movements in the harbour. While pleasure craft and fishing boats can enter the channel at any time of day, commercial vessels, old sailing ships and Vendée Globe boats only enter at high tide. They then offer an impressive spectacle to passers-by.
The tides also have a direct influence on our back-coastal landscape: it's during the spring tides that the water in the salt marshes is renewed every fortnight. The locks open at low tide to empty the marshes before filling them again at high tide.
So don't forget to check the tide times to make sure you don't get caught out!

See the tides
And above all, don't forget: "When the gulls get their footing: it's time to tack!

Discover the beaches

Baignade dans les Vagues Plage de la Paracou

Tides

Semaine du

Basse mer

Haute mer

Basse mer

Haute mer

Basse mer

The marina

Port of reference for major sailing races

The boom in yachting after the Second World War profoundly changed the organisation of the port of Les Sables d'Olonne. In the 1960s/70s, pleasure boats moored in the fishing port, causing a few inconveniences for professional fishermen and commercial traffic.
It was in the 1970s that Mr Prouteau's municipality decided to build a marina in the "Bassin des Chasses" marshland area.
At that time, the old salt marshes, some of which had been converted into oyster farms in the 20th century, were still located behind the commercial harbour.
Work began in 1976 and was entrusted to the Merceron company, which undertook the earthworks and dug the first basin behind the old lock bridge linking La Chaume to the commercial port. To allow access to the port, the old Chaume bridge was demolished on 7 November 1978 before the replacement road, the Rocade, was completed.
The Olona I marina was inaugurated in 1979 and the Port Olona housing estate the following year. At the end of this work, there were 7 pontoons managed by the Société Economie Mixte des Sables d'Olonne and the SA du port de plaisance des Sables.
To meet the growing demand for berths, the marina was extended with a second basin in 1988. The creation of Port Olona II increased the number of berths from 660 to 1,100. To link Port Olona I and II, a cable-stayed bridge (54 m long, 9 m wide) was built in 1992.
Since then, the lengthening of some pontoons and the construction of new ones have increased the number of berths afloat to 1,400. Port Olona has more than doubled its capacity since its creation.

It is now the largest marina in the Vendée and one of the largest on the Atlantic coast.
In the space of just a few decades, it has undoubtedly become a benchmark port for major offshore sailing races: the Vendée Globe, the Solitaire du Figaro, the Tour de France à la Voile, the EDHEC Race, the Solo Maître Coq, the GGR, etc.

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Vue aérienne de port Olona, port de plaisance des Sables d'Olonne

The Salaire bridge

In the heart of the Ile d'Olonne marshes

This small bridge spans the Vertonne river and links the old salt-making village of Ile d'Olonne, known as "La Salaire", to the Olonne marshes.
The word salaire comes from the Latin salarium, derived from sal, salt. Initially, it referred to the ration of salt provided to Roman soldiers (salarium), as payment, then, with usage, the term came to refer to the cash allowance paid to buy salt and other foodstuffs (salarium). The village also once housed a customs barracks (known as "la caserne").
Until the 18th century, there was a ferry across the Vertonne. It was used to ferry men working in the marshes of the parish of Olonne across to the bank opposite the village and to transport crops and animals. The seigneur de la Cour de l'Ile d'Olonne was responsible for maintaining the ferry and collected a toll of 6 deniers per hectare of marshland used and per day.
In 1758, the new squire, Jullien Gallouin, a priest in the parish of St Clément de Nantes, had a bridge built at a place called "La Salaire". He undertook to pay for its upkeep and continued to charge users a right of way.
By the end of the 19th century, the bridge, consisting of 4 pillars and a wooden deck, was in a very poor state of repair. After the revolutionary period, the communes of Olonne and Ile d'Olonne refused to maintain it. Under the leadership of the syndicat des marais de la Gachère, thirty-four marshland owners who used the bridge got together to restore it by creating the association syndicale du pont de la Salaire on 22 May 1899, with the aim of maintaining the bridge and keeping it in use.
Then, in 1934, the communes of Olonne and Ile d'Olonne finally subsidised the rebuilding of the bridge. It was inaugurated in July 1935. Despite some maintenance work in 1980, the condition of the bridge became critical in 2015: the deck was in danger of collapsing and the pillars were cracked. The Sables-d'Olonne conurbation took charge of the total renovation of the building in 2018, while preserving its architecture. Today, it's a great place to take a stroll in the heart of the marshes.
Located on the Vélodyssée cycle path, you can see this pretty bridge in the village of La Salaire by following the itineraries in our Balade & Vous guide.

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The Gueffard mill

An emblematic site in the landscape of L'Ile d'Olonne

L'Ile d'Olonne is home to one of the town's oldest mills.
It is mentioned in 1703 on a map by the engineer Claude Massé and on the Napoleonic cadastre in 1830 as the "Moulin de Guéfart". However, a document dated 1656 referring to the "Moulin du Bourg" suggests that it already existed in the 17th century, or even earlier.
Originally, it was the former banal mill, i.e. it belonged to the seigneur de la Cour de l'Ile d'Olonne, who financed its construction and earned a substantial income from it. It operated until 1932.

It is approximately 5.4 metres in diameter and over 7 metres high, before the roof. It originally had two doors at the bottom and two windows at the top, which could be accessed depending on the wind direction and the orientation of the blades. It originally operated in the same way as all other mills in Poitou, with a rudder that steered the mill's wings in the direction of the wind.
The mill's last miller was Clément Constant Généreux Letard (nicknamed "Parfait" by his wife!) He ceased all activity in 1931 and the abandoned mill, deprived of its wings, slowly fell into ruin.
It was finally bought by the commune of Ile d'Olonne in 2002, and it was in 2016 that the SMPI Association (Sauvegarde du Moulin et du Patrimoine Islais) was set up to propose a solution for developing the old Gueffard mill. This project was adopted after consultation with the local population.
Between 2021 and the installation of the roof on 14 December 2022, restoration work was carried out to consolidate the mill's foundations and create a viewpoint accessible via a central spiral staircase.

From the belvedere, you can enjoy a panoramic view over the marshes and the village of Ile d'Olonne.

Moulin_Gueffard à l'Ile d'Olonne - Julie Michel

The old fisheries

Have you noticed these stone walls?

At La Paracou, these are fixed installations built on the wild coast and designed to trap fish by forming reservoirs in the rocks.
They consisted of stone walls built without mortar, still visible at low tide, and included an opening to the open sea called a "claye" or "emptying opening", generally open to the full height of the wall, as can be seen at La Paracou, and sometimes in the form of small tunnels. This opening was fitted with either a wooden grate or a small net to trap the fish. These fisheries varied in size and shape, making the most of the rugged terrain.
These "fish locks" are the result of ancestral know-how. They were set up by farmers growing crops on the dunes to supplement their market gardening activities. In centuries gone by, this supplementary activity was essential to improve the diet of the local population.
Situated on public land, this activity has now completely ceased as a result of gradual abandonment following a ministerial ban in 1990.
These constructions are now subject to natural erosion by the ocean. You can see them at low tide on the Paracou beach side and along the coastal path leading to the Graviers beach.
Others can also be seen along the corniche du Puits d'Enfer to the south of Les Sables d'Olonne, notably at the Pointe du vieux Moulin and Anse aux moines. They were built in the Middle Ages by the monks of the Abbey of St Jean d'Orbestier.

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Pêcherie Plage de la Paracou- Antoine Martineau

The "Château d'Olonne" castle

But where is it?

The answer is sure to surprise you: under the church.

The original castle of the Barons of Olonne was built during the High Middle Ages on the site of the present-day market town of Château d'Olonne, more precisely on the site of the Church of Saint-Hilaire. As the administrative seat of the Olonne seigneury, the castle was organised in the same way as a motte castrale: a large mound surrounded by a moat and crowned by a palisade, with a wooden fort similar to a keep built into the palisade. It would appear that it was later paved over and fortified with towers.
We do not know when the castle was destroyed, but it probably lost its role when the lordship of Talmont supplanted that of Olonne in the 11th century. A church was then built on the site, on the site of the former castle chapel.
The church we know today was rebuilt in the 18th and 20th centuries, and its dominant position in relation to the town is a reminder of the surveillance and defence function of this ancient fortified site.

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Born in Les Sables-d'Olonne, she developed a passion for history and heritage at an early age.
Passionate about architecture, she has set up a number of guided tours designed to showcase the local heritage, always seeking to link the built and the human.

Priscilla Giboteau Tour Guide