Bréhémont

Bréhémont is a little place on the left bank of the Loire. Nowadays it is a sleepy place, although in the summer season it is busy with cyclists who bike along the Loire and Cher rivers.

The large port at Bréhémont

First mentioned in the 9th century, it re-appears in a charter by Olivier de Langeais dated 1214. Later it belonged to the monks of Saint-Martin de Tours who passed it on to the Seigneurs of L'Île-Bouchard and in 1692 it became part of the newly created Marquisate of Ussé.

Traditional boats tied up at the port

However, by the 19th century Bréhémont was a very busy little place indeed, as it had become the centre for hemp cultivation in Touraine. This explains the rather expansive quayside, or 'port' as the French call it on the river Loire which is still there today.

A brightly coloured 'girouet' at the top this boat's mast

Hemp was used to fashion ropes, [and later used in the paper-making industry] and there was a huge demand for it. According to an informative post we found on a website maintained by locals, hemp was being cultivated in Bréhémont from about the 13th century onwards. Certainly from the late 18th century hemp from the village was well known and sought after. So much so, that apparently there was a bit of a scandal when, in 1840, hemp from the Sarthe region was found to have false certificates of provenance indicating that it was "d'origine de Bréhémont". In 1850 about 4,500Ha was under hemp cultivation in Touraine and virtually all of the land in the village was given over to the crop. During this heyday the village had a population of 1,850 whereas now there are only about 800 living in the commune. The demand for hemp waned and by 1929 only about 200Ha was given over to hemp growing; most of it in, and around, the communes of Bréhémont and Rigny-Ussé. By 1980 cultivation had ceased, as up till then a small amount had still been grown for the paper industry.

The village of Bréhémont's UNESCO girouet has a hemp plant and an anchor as its symbol.