Les Clayes-sous-Bois
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Les Clayes-sous-Bois () is a
commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
in the
Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in the
Île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , bla ...
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
in north-central
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It is located in the western suburbs of
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
from the
center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
. The Clayes-sous-Bois inhabitants are called "Clétiens" (possibly translated "Cletians").


Geography

The commune of Les Clayes-sous-Bois is located about 14 km from
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
and 30 km from Paris, in the southwest of the Versailles plain. The commune is highly urbanized, with mostly single-family housing, except for the southern part of the commune, which is covered by a part of the Bois-d'Arcy forest. It borders the cities of Chavenay , Villepreux, Bois-d'Arcy, Trappes to and Plaisir. The commune is irrigated in the South by the Maldroit river, a tributary of the Mauldre. It is located entirely in the Mauldre watershed, managed since 1992 by the COBAHMA , under the aegis of the Yvelines General Council, and for which a water development and management plan (SAGE) has been implemented. However, it is partially in the Maldroit sub-basin (south and west) and for the rest (north-east) in the rivulet de Gally sub-basin, although not crossed by the rivulet itself.


Economy

Les Clayes-sous-Bois, like most towns in the Île-de-France region, has a large number of businesses (619), mainly in commerce and services, located in five industrial and commercial zones. One of the most important of these is Atos a computer center. Three regional shopping centers to the north of the municipality, bordering the railroad tracks, constitute the other most important areas with Alpha Park, Alpha Park 2 and One Nation Paris (an outlet of luxury stores opened in late 2013). Located on Avenue du Général-Leclerc, the communal market is open on Thursdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.44 In 2010, the median fiscal income per household was 37.589 €, which ranked Les Clayes-sous-Bois 4.075th among the 31.525 municipalities with more than 39 households in metropolitan France.


Policy and population

After being part of the group of communes of the West Paris region, Les Clayes-sous-Bois became part of the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines agglomeration community on 1 January 2016


Twinnings

The twinning with Röthenbach was established by the mayors André Boulay and Karl Fischer in 1964, one year after the signature of the "Élysée Treaty", a friendship treaty signed at the
Élysée Palace The Élysée Palace (french: Palais de l'Élysée; ) is the official residence of the President of the French Republic. Completed in 1722, it was built for nobleman and army officer Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, who had been appointed Gover ...
by the German chancellor
Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...
and the French president
Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
.The group of "the Friends of the Woods" already existed since 1962, it organized meetings between the young people of the two cities. In 1964, immediately afterward, a twinning committee was created. On Easter 1965, a soccer match between the teams of the two towns took place. In October 1995, the 30th anniversary of the twinning was celebrated with discussions between veterans and the organization of painting exhibitions and tennis matches. In September 1999, the Twinning Committee introduced German classes in the "Maison des jeunes et de la culture des Clayes " (Youth Center of the town). In both cities, the Twinning Committee initiated language classes, trips, youth exchanges between schools and between artists, as well as other activities such as : petanque tournament on July 14 and meetings between the firemen of both cities. The city is also twinned with the city of
Ponte da Barca Ponte da Barca (; ) is a municipality in the district of Viana do Castelo (district), Viana do Castelo in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 12,061, in an area of 182.11 km2. The present Mayor is Augusto Manuel Dos Reis Marinho, elected by ...
(Portugal) since 2002.


Population

The population of the commune is relatively young. The rate of people over 60 years of age (22%) is lower than the national rate (26%). Like the national and departmental allocations, the female population of the municipality is higher than the male population. The distribution of the commune's population by age group in 2017 is as follows: * 49.1% men (0 to 14 years old = 21.7%, 15 to 29 years old = 19.2%, 30 to 44 years old = 18.8%, 45 to 59 years old = 20.8%, over 60 years old = 19.5%); * 50.9% women (0-14 = 18.7%, 15-29 = 15.9%, 30-44 = 19.9%, 45-59 = 21.0%, over 60 = 24.4%).


History


Prehistory

Prehistoric elements such as carved axes and bronze bracelets have been discovered on the site of Les Clayes and are now exhibited in the national archaeology museum of
Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...
, testifying its occupation since prehistoric times.


Middle Ages

A stone path, of which there are still vestiges, passed through the village. It is nowadays the "Chemin aux Bœufs" ( the Oxen Road) . As its name indicates, this secondary road was used for cattle transport from
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
; the animals were then inspected in
Chavenay Chavenay (), also known as ''Vallon de Chavenay'', is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located close to Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and Versailles. Twin towns ...
and put on sale at the
Poissy Poissy () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Pisciacais'' in French. Poissy is one of ...
and Saint-Germain-en-Laye markets . In the Middle Ages, the partition of the territory of the old
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
began, giving rise to
fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...
doms ruled by lords; in exchange for the protection of the latter, the peasants could cultivate their lands in security. At the beginning of the 12th century, the lands of Clais (old name of the city) belonged to Simon de Cloyes. In 1118, he had a castle built near the church. The church was built on the upper part of the village under the reign of
Philip I Philip(p) I may refer to: * Philip I of Macedon (7th century BC) * Philip I Philadelphus (between 124 and 109 BC–83 or 75 BC) * Philip the Arab (c. 204–249), Roman Emperor * Philip I of France (1052–1108) * Philip I (archbishop of Cologne) (1 ...
. Excavations carried out in 1875 during the construction of the enclosing wall of the Saint-Martin cemetery revealed a forgotten cellar that belonged to the castle. In 1160, the bishop of Chartres, Robert III, assign the parish of Les Clayes to the abbey of Saint-Cyr, which was confirmed by
Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland ( it, Rolando), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a con ...
in a
bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...
three years later. In 1357, the troops of the
King of Navarre This is a list of the kings and queens of kingdom of Pamplona, Pamplona, later kingdom of Navarre, Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Kingdom of Aragon, Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial desig ...
, Charles le Mauvais, settled for three months in the villages of Les Clayes, Villepreux and Trappes, plundering the parishes. A battle between the French royal troops and those of the King of Navarre took place east of the village, in a valley known as "Près Bataille" (Before Battle). In 1360, the king's squire Pierre Potel had a seigniorial hotel built in the south of the village : a hunting lodge near the Bois d'Arcy forest. The south wing, the only vestige since 1790, now houses the municipal library. This hotel was built in the Val Gally area, on the site of a country house belonging to the nuns of Notre-Dame-des-Anges de Saint-Cyr, which was burned down during the occupation of Charles le Mauvais. The seigniorial mansion was a square surrounded by a double enclosure, a defensive wall and ditches which remained until 1866, when they were filled in by Mr. Martignon. In 1368, the lands of the Clayes belonged to Jean de Meslindon, ally of the Villeneuve family until 1517. Then to four other owners: Lambert Maigret, comptroller general, André Leroy, notary and secretary of François I, Gaillard Spifaine, Comptroller General of Finance and Guillaume Poyet, Second President of the Parliament of Paris.


Modern times

In 1537 the seigneury of “Clais” was confiscated  from its indebted owner, Gaillard Spifaine, and returned to the king of France. On 24 December 1546
Anne de Pisseleu Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly (), Duchess of Étampes, (15081580) was chief mistress of Francis I of France. She became Francis' mistress following his return from captivity in 1526. Anne enriched her family and friends through her courtly influen ...
, favorite of
François I Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
, obtains from her lover the lands of “ Clayes”, of which she becomes the chatelaine. In 1556,
Diane de Poitiers Diane de Poitiers (9 January 1500 – 25 April 1566) was a French noblewoman and prominent courtier. She wielded much power and influence as King Henry II's royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position increased her wealth and family' ...
, mistress of Henri II, became the owner, ten years after Anne de Pisseleu was exiled and the seigneury confiscated in favor of the new king. Diane uses it as a hunting relay. The king’s mistress also planted the famous «tree of Diana» in the parc. The domain passed on to his daughter Françoise de Brézé, who sold it to François Coignet, notary and secretary to the seigneur of Pontchartrain. In 1573, a year before ascending to the throne, the future Henry III put the Château of Clais under royal protection. A trace remains above a door of the main body of the former hunting relay: it is a «safeguard», a plate representing a shield or  a blazon, on which are engraved three lilies surrounded by a necklace of the Saint-Laurent Michel  order with a crown sit on top it . In 1578, in a letter the Bishop of
Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...
Nicolas de Thou wrote: “We have the humble plea of the villagers and inhabitants of the Clais, in our diocese dedicated and consecrated to God the church built under the invocation of Saint Martin where the relics of the arm of Saint Margaret are kept”. Under the
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...
(“Old Regime”), the parish of Clais was supposed to receive 1/10th of the crop of the Saint Cyr  abbess, but in reality, the parish priests received only a small part of it, the majority remaining in the hands of the ecclesiastics.


Contemporary era


The French Revolution

At the beginning of
the French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
,  grievance notebooks were written. The Cletians asked for  "the abolition of seigneurial rights, the abolition of the captaincies forbidding them to hunt and the opening of a  road from Les Clayes to Saint-Cyr to obtain provisions and  trade".The first local council was elected on 26 March 1791. On 20 November 1791 the parish priest Le Duc was relieved of his duties as mayor and replaced by Nicolas Barré, prosecutor of the town . In October 1793, one of the two bells of the church was sent to the cannon foundry. On the 11th of February 1793, Catholic worship ceased and the church's silver ornaments and vases were donated for the "support of the Republic". A part of the old seigniorial castle was destroyed. Only the south wing remains today.


The Clayes castle

In front of the old hunting lodge, a new neo-classical castle was built between 1800 and 1816 by the Delaborne family, owners of land in Villepreux. A chapel was also built and the outbuildings were added to the old segniorial house. Made of stone and brick, the building's façade is rectangular, framed by two circular towers and roofs pierced by four bull's eyes windows. The pediments of the slate roof are triangular and the upper floor windows have railings ; a belfry adorned with a clock is installed in the middle of the roof, symbolizing the power of the building, when Les Clayes did not yet have a real town hall. The chapel is topped by a tapered roof and a cross. In 1819, the Delaborne's son added the large gate that marks the entrance of the domain. Several owners then succeed each other. Madame Bloch-Levallois bought the castle in 1915, followed in the 1920s by Jeanne Pata de Montagnac (1882-1966), an amateur lyric singer known for her beauty, who sang in the Parisian musical salon of Marguerite de Saint-Marceaux.Divorced from Maximilien Jaunez, she began the restoration of the castle of Clayes, however she sold it after her remarriage in 1925 with Charles de Polignac.In 1926, Lucy and Jos Hessel, paintings traders, acquired the castle and starting a high social life, inviting personalities like the writer
Tristan Bernard Tristan Bernard (7 September 1866 – 7 December 1947) was a French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer. Life He studied law, and after his military service, he started his career as the manager of an aluminium smelter. In the 1890s, ...
, the painter
Édouard Vuillard Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, he was a prominent member of the Nabis, making paintings which assembled areas of pure color, and interior s ...
and the politician
Léon Blum André Léon Blum (; 9 April 1872 – 30 March 1950) was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister. As a Jew, he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. He was a disciple of French Socialist le ...


From rural houses to new housing.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Les Clayes was a small rural village of barely 300 inhabitants. The commune was 612 hectares, on which five farms distributed 586 hectares of cultivated land, mostly cereals, sugar beets and fruit trees. The "ferme du château" (castle farm) was located at the corner of rue Henri-Langlois and rue Henri-Prou, where a period courtyard can still be found todayRue Henri-Prou, then called "chemin de Grande communication" and linking Les Clayes to Versailles and Neauphles (towns with which most of the commune's agricultural trade took place), was the main axis of the village, where communal life took place, with the church and the first town hall in its center, located in the former presbytery. In this street, there are still some typical buildings from the XIX and early XX centuries: village houses with simple gypsum block facades and a few town houses, made of millstone, with a much more refined architecture. Between the 1870s and the 1930s, the industrialization of the region, the demographic growth and the densification of the means of transportation also led to the multiplication of the construction of small houses overflowing the historical center, bringing to Les Clayes a new population, well-to-do and then working class, prefiguring what would be called the suburbs. The arrival of the train in 1861 greatly favored these changes (see Villepreux - Les Clayes station). The new railroad connections brought many former villages within reach of the Parisians, and the wealthier ones sought to build second homes there. The present town hall was built in 1930. It is inserted in a complex of buildings that also includes a school, in order to accommodate the growing school population. The facade of the building still preserves on its side alleys the trace of its entrances: boys' school at the Robert-Desnos path and girls' school at the 19-March-1962 path. At the end of the latter lane, now replaced by the André-Briquet nursery school, there were bathhouses. In the past, a square was installed in front of the town hall; it was named after Léon Blum. Rearranged in the 2000's, it was replaced by an open square named after
Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
.


From WWII until today

In August 1944, at the end of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the castle and its chapel were burned by the German troops at their departure. Only the two side towers with their bells and the outbuildings remained unharmed in the burning. During the Second World War, a group of young Cletiens Resistance fighter from the" Organisation Civile et Militaire (OCM)" were engaged against the German occupation. In 1947, at the city hall, André Biret was decorated with the "Liberation" medal. In 1945, Charlotte Célerié, a member of the French Communist Party (FCP), was elected mayor; she was one of the first women mayors in France. Les Clayes-sous-Bois is indeed for many decades a left-wing town, Henri Prou (FCP) mayor from 1935 to 1939, André Boulay from 1959 to 1965 then Jean Sergeant (FCP) from 1965 to 1977 and Janine Thomas (FCP) from 1977 to 2001.Since 2001, the city has been led by center-right mayors (Véronique Coté-Millard from 2001 to 2020, then succeeded by Philippe Guiguen).


Culture


Sites and monuments


The St Martin Church

It is the oldest building in the commune. Its nave dates from the 11th century, the choir and the sanctuary from the 14th and 15th centuries.  Like many small village churches, it does not have a cross-shaped plan. It has several Romanesque elements such as small round bay windows and a narrow, low
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, as well as a
vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...
with
arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
es, but it has only one side aisle, whereas churches usually have a second one. Sculpted in the 11th century, a headstone supports the tabernacle. The church also has
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
elements such as : the vault of the choir, a
ribbed vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...
, as well as a bay windows with three lancet arches), dating from the 14th-15th centuries. It is thus a mixt of Romanesque and Gothic styles. There is a statue of the Virgin and Child from the 15th century, registered in the departmental inventory of historical monuments. The original bell tower was destroyed during the
Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
and was later rebuilt. The church was dedicated to Saint Martin during the reign of
Henri III Henry III (french: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; pl, Henryk Walezy; lt, Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of ...
.In the 16th century, a wooden cartouche carved with the Roman numeral "1500" ("MC") was placed above the door of the sacristy. In the same century or the following one,
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es were painted on the
pillars A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression (physical), compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column i ...
of the nave. A
baptismal Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation and Adoption ...
font made of pink marble with a copper cover dating from the 17th and 18th centuries was also installed. All these elements are still visible today. Around 1750, a bell named Anne Françoise Martin was placed in the bell tower. The cemetery located below the church (called the Saint-Martin cemetery) was inaugurated in 1858. In 1949, after the Second World War and the church threatened to fall into ruins, a restoration campaign was organized. In 1950, a statue of Saint Martin by Marcel Sprank was installed on the
pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...
of the entrance portal. A tribune was placed at the back of the nave; it was removed in 1999. In 1993, after a plastering, the frame of a large stained glass window was unveiled. The "Ateliers Loire"(Loire workshops) were then asked to design new stained glass windows for this frame and the other windows of the building.


The Hunting lodge

The hunting lodge from the 14th century was built on the ruins of a house destroyed during a troubled period (Hundred Years' War, Black Death). This house belonged to the nuns of Notre-Dame-des-Anges de Saint-Cyr (Benedictine order), who sold the remains of the building to the king's squire Pierre Potel, in 1360 . Pierre Potel built an imposing square-shaped hunting lodge, with the east facing facade, surrounded by a ditch (filled in in 1866), while a wall surrounds the park. Over the centuries, the building and its domain changed hands among officers of the crown and members of the Parliament of Paris. The facade and roofs of the hunting lodge are listed in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments in 1872. The south wing of the building is the last vestige, the other parts having been destroyed in 1790. It currently houses the municipal library


The presbytery and cemeteries

The presbytery located in front of the church was built between 1719 and 1745 at the request of the parish priest of Les Clayes, Jean-Louis Lauzy, and at his own expense, in order to provide a classroom for the children of the village. The commune has three cemeteries: the Saint-Martin cemetery (rue Henri-Prou, behind the church), the Henri-Prou cemetery (opposite the swimming pool) and the Broderie cemetery (chemin de la Bretechelle).


The Diane's Park

Its name refers to the king's mistress
Diane de Poitiers Diane de Poitiers (9 January 1500 – 25 April 1566) was a French noblewoman and prominent courtier. She wielded much power and influence as King Henry II's royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position increased her wealth and family' ...
who lived in the hunting lodge of les Clayes. In the park remains the vestige of the Clayes's castle : only the two lateral towers surmounted by a lantern remain and its outbuildings, integrated into the remains of the old hunting lodge (the library), now host exhibitions and associative and festive activities. The park of Diana has been listed as a cultural heritage site since 31 July 2003. In addition to the two towers of the old castle, its main attraction is the Diane tree:a 450-year-old plane tree, known as the "tree of Diana", received in 2000 the label of remarkable tree of France by the association A.R.B.R.E.S. It would have been planted around 1556, by the mistress of King Henri II of France. A pond is located in front of the terrace of the old castle and, further west, another pond is crossed by a small wooden bridge. It was once lined with a wooden kiosk.


Education

PreschoolsEtablissements scolaires
" Les Clayes-sous-Bois. Retrieved on September 3, 2016.
* André Briquet * P * Le Chêne Sorcier * René Coty * Nouveau Cottage Primary schools: * Marcel Pagnol * Jean Jaurès * Henri Prou * Victor Hugo * René Coty * Paul Eluard The commune has two junior high schools: La Fosse aux Damnes and Anatole France. Lycée Jean-Vilar in
Plaisir Plaisir () is a commune located in the heart of the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the center of Paris. It borders among others on Élancourt (south), Trapp ...
and
Lycée Sonia Delaunay In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...
in
Villepreux Villepreux () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France located about 12 km west of Versailles, in the plaine de Versailles, almost in line with the perspective of the Grand Canal (an axis corresp ...
are nearby.


Transport

Les Clayes-sous-Bois is served by Villepreux – Les Clayes station on the
Transilien Paris – Montparnasse Transilien Line N is a railway line of the Paris Transilien suburban rail network operated by the SNCF. The trains on this line travel between Gare Montparnasse in Paris and the west of Île-de-France region, with termini in Rambouillet, Dreux ...
suburban rail line and by an efficient bus station that links the town to Versailles, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and a few other communes around.


See also

*
Communes of the Yvelines department An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...


References


External links


Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clayessousbois Communes of Yvelines