Le Pré-Vincent

Before the revolution, the Pré-Vincent was called the Pré-de-Paris and the foreshore "les arennes du bien". At that time, the dunes were very high, the inhabitants came to remove sand for their constructions. At the end of the 19th century, the erosion of the coast of the Pré-Vincent caused the disappearance of a dune cordon of 2 to 4 meters high. In 1925, the dunes began to disappear, and the taking of sand became forbidden. In 1822, the fashion of sea bathing, coming from Great Britain, reached France and at the beginning of the XXth century this vogue reached our coast. It was written in 1909 that "foreigners" wanted clean beaches, so the commune had thistles and detritus from the sea removed, as well as the biggest rocks between the Pré-Vincent and the Coëf Barraud. Around 1930, the number of bathers was estimated by the commune to be between 800 and 1000. Still under the pressure of the bathers, the commune decided in 1928 to flatten the rest of the dunes and to make plantations. The access road to the beach was covered with duckboards, a public fountain with a pump was installed, we were in the "square du Pré-Vincent". Beach cabins were installed and rented by the town hall. Toilets were added around 1948 and a removable swimming pool in 1958. The Pré-Vincent had become the big popular beach with its slide and its big porches. In 1960, it was the end of the construction of the dike (embankment) and 3 new groins. But the sea continued to attack the beach, as the "basin" behind the dike remained submerged for a long time during the 1940 storm and in 2010 with the Xynthia storm the sea returned to its old ways. In 2018, faced with the risk of marine submersion, the embankment in front of the Pré-Vincent has been completely redesigned. The low wall in front of the sea has been raised, with a shape called "sea-catcher" on the whole boulevard of the ocean. The rear walls were made of visible stones to preserve the "character" of this space. This embankment reserved for pedestrians is today the joy of walkers. *Extracts from the book "Flâneries aux Moutiers-en-Retz" by Monique Albert.