Magné, from Latin Magnus meaning big, is the old name of a rich Roman family established on an island in the Gulf of Pictons. Bordered by the Sèvre Niortaise and the Sevreau, the village has thrown four bridges over the watercourses, the most characteristic of which is the metal drawbridge, witness to the golden age of river trade in the 19th century. This traffic made it possible to export pottery, old local industry fed by marine bri, clay from the marshes. Today, the pots have given way to exhibitions at Oven Pontet located on the towpath. The municipality has several labels: a butterfly, symbol of “Healthy Earth”, this label was awarded in 2015 to Magné in recognition of its ban on pesticides and the national label “Flowering Towns and Villages” in 2018. In addition, Magné obtained in 2023 a second bracket of the committed organic territory label, a year after obtaining the first. Which means thatat least 35% of the products served in the restaurant of the Les Hirondelles la commune school group are organic. Next goal: reach 100% in the supply of organic products by 2025.
What to see in Magné?
01. Sainte-Catherine Church
The primitive Saint-Germain d'Auxerre building, built in 936 by the Charroux Abbey, was destroyed by the Normans. In 1508, a chapter of six canons under the name of Sainte-catherine was founded by Catherine de Coëtivy, niece of the king and wife of the lord of Magné. The church was built in 1521 by the architect Mathurin Berthomé. The vaults collapsed in 1568 following the pillaging and burning of the Huguenots. In 1789, the monument became a fodder warehouse and a military hospital for the scabby in 1793. It was restored in the XNUMXth century and classified as a Historic Monument in 1913.
To have : Virgin Changing the Child Jesus (18th century canvas?), Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament with 18th century altarpiece, stained glass windows and statues from the 19th and 20th centuries.
02. The Sainte-Macrine chapel
Located on the highest hill of Magné (42 m.), This high holy place in the market garden is dedicated to Macrine, patroness of boatmen and holy protector of the agricultural world. In the 1806th century, the small church was rebuilt. During the Revolution, it was in ruins and sold to Jacques Barré de Niort. His widow donated it to the town of Magné in 1867, which rebuilt it from 1886 to XNUMX in the neo-gothic style. In 2004, a chestnut ex-voto co-signed by Laurent Page and his assistants Julien Monory and Maïté Ballereau-Ferdonnet was inaugurated. This is a bas-relief representing Macrine upon his arrival in the Marais, in a boat moving among the reeds. Since the Middle Ages, every July 6, a pilgrimage has taken place which still continues today. Arriving from Marans, Maillé, Vix, Damvix, Arcais… via the old Sèvre and mooring their boats near the Magné ford, the pilgrims passed by three miraculous springs. All that remains today is the Gravée des Trois Ormeaux fountain, erected in 1845, 1 km from the chapel in the street of the same name.
03. The Four Pontet Cultural Space
Old pot oven modernized by Mr. Pontet, the factory has become an essential exhibition venue in Niortais since 1998. Magnesian pottery is an old industry whose first traces of activity date back to the Neolithic period. The first known workshop was born at the beginning of the 1980th century and the last closed in XNUMX. Magné manufactured utilitarian objects (milk jugs, pots, coffee makers, mogette pots) and decorative objects (Tours and Paris shaped flower pots), as well as devotional articles sold to pilgrims to Sainte-Macrina.
04. The Marais Pin website
This place includes a lock keeper's house from 1865 which, unoccupied since 1987, was sold in 2007 by the Equipment and a lock dam with fish pass. Nearby is the rickety motte whose legend from the end of the 19th century says that the unstable ground swallowed up unlucky travelers into the swamps! In fact, the motte, an elevated plot surrounded by ditches (canals) for cultivating the farm's vegetables, wavers under the weight of its visitors, especially during floods.
05. The heritage trail “From port to port”
From the Espace du Bief car park, thanks to signage on the ground (decorated brass nails), a 2,5 km path along the Sèvre Niortaise and in the alleys of the village, punctuated by 7 panels promoting small heritage with games and riddles as an accompaniment: the resorts, the bread oven on rue du Port-Musqué (restored), the municipal pump…
Market ports evoke the transport of wood, fishing, laundry, etc.; the image of daily life of yesteryear. The Bras-Rouge islet located at the end of rue du Port-Musqué and integrated into the trail: a place of experimentation and a educational path on local species.
Discover hiking
Major events not to be missed in Magné
International Painting Festival
The third weekend of July, Magné organizes the International Painting Festival in the presence of 300 artists and thus occupies the first position in France for this type of event !
