ÉGLISE DE TONNEVILLE

The town of Tonneville is famous for the local legend of Blanche de Percy, la demoiselle de Tonneville, a 13th century noblewoman.  Upon the death of her parents, she became the sole heir to the Percy lands.  She refuted all offers of marriage, lived alone and studied witchcraft.  This eventually led to a dispute over her lands from the local parish and that of Flottemanville.  She cursed those who contested her inheritence saying, « Si, après ma mort, j'avais un pied dans le ciel, et l'autre dans l'enfer, je retirerais le premier pour avoir toute la lande à moi. »  (If, after my death, I had one foot in heaven, and the other in hell, I would withdraw the first to have all of my lands.)  At the time of her death she turned away from the sacraments of the priest and refused to retract her blasphemous words about the possession of her lands.  At her funeral, her coffin became so heavy that it was impossible to move from the doorway of her manor house.  Despite all efforts to have it moved, the locals decided to have it buried on the spot at the entrance to the manor.  Since then, in keeping with her malediction, she haunts the lands and attacks weary travellers.  The legend was given even more credence when in 1949, during demolition work at the site of the manor house, a tomb without inscription was found under the threshold.  Could it possibly be the centuries-old legendary tomb of la demoiselle de Tonneville ?  In a 12th century charter of the Abbaye Notre-Dame du Vœu, one finds the first mention of the town of Tonneville.  The church, dedicated to St-Martin, was built in the Roman style at the beginning of the 13th century.The nave and the choir were reshaped in the 15th century.  A saddleback tower houses a single bell.  Recently renovated, the interior of the building is welcoming and pleasant.  In the north wall of the choir is the 15th century funerary plaque of Anne Le Tellier who died in 1490.  She was the wife of Jehan Basan, a former lord of Tonneville.  It reads as follows : CY DEVA(N)T GIST NOBLE DAMESELLE ANNE LE TELLIER, EN SO(N) VIVA(N)T FAME DE NOBLE HO(MM)E JEHAN BASAN S(EI)G(NEU)R P(A)TRO(N) DE THO(N)NEVILLE: DE SYOU(VIL)LE ET PIERRE(VIL)LE, LA Q(UEL)LE T(R)ESPASSA LE XIIIe JOUR DE JU(I)LLET L'A(N) M CCCC IIIIxx ET X. DIEU EN AIT L'A(M)E.  Five of the stained glass windows in the church date from 1953.  There is one tomb of interest in the cemetery of smaller memorials surrounding the church.  It is quite large and since 1880 has served as the final resting place for members three Tonneville families : Piel, A. Leveziel and Lemoine.