Touraine - from then until now!


Monday, 7 September 2015

Scratches on the wall

The extraordinarily clear light of autumn enabled me to take a few photos of the marks in the doorway of one of our little outbuildings, the one we use as a toolshed. There is some writing there, and pictures.

The text and figures are scored deeply into the stone. I am publishing this post unfinished as an appeal to anyone who can for help in interpreting this. It appears to date from the second world war, when several resistance groups operated in this area. Jean Rousellot filmed them for his L'histoire de chez nous 1940 - 1945.  Does this have something to do with them?,

To someone more familiar with French handwriting and script styles the text may be perfectly clear.  To me, the only unambiguous phrase is the date le 5 juin 1944. Even this is imperfect - it could be le 15 or le 25 juin (see photo 2). There seems to be another date and an illegible name: le 10 nove de chez M. de???elle (photo 7). Could this be "Charcellay"? Or Décharte? We will ask....

There are two drawings. One is just a head, in profile, with a high bulging forehead, a large beaky nose and a big chin, a line across the top of the skull may represent a severe (military) haircut. He can be seen clearly in the first photograph, and again in 3,4 and 7. Next to it a natural (?) shape in the stone reflects the drawing.

The second, also in profile, shows a man smoking a clay pipe, again with a large beaky nose and chin, but with spiky hair sticking out from his pate. He appears on photo 5, and again on photo 2 which seems to indicate long legs. In photo 6 his pipe can be seen, along with the smoke rising from it. The figure was drawn earlier than the date, which is carved across it.

Tim suggests a child's hand for the human images, but I disagree. I think both images are of the same person, but they were drawn by different people. Who had a large beaky nose and chin? General de Gaulle, the exiled leader of the French resistance.

Here are the photos:

Photo 1.
les c?hmi? ? cochons?  de chez M. ...

Photo 2.
  Le ? Avril // 1944  le x5 juin

Photo 3.  ?
le 10 nove(mbre?)  de ?chez M? de ??ellay?? see also photo 7
les cochons?

Photo 4.
les c?h?
Photo 5.
le ? ?avril? 1944 le 5 juin

Photo 6. 
R (or P) ??trie or ??bie

Photo 7.
le 10 nove de chez M. ace  .... cell(?ay?)