Stroll through Faucogney cemetery, between ancient and remarkable graves

It is one of the oldest cemeteries in France, the Faucogney-et-la-Mer cemetery in the Pays des Mille Etangs in Haute-Saône. A procedure for the abandonment of graves has been launched and ends in early 2022, the remarkable and historic graves will be preserved and maintained by the municipalities.

The Saint-Martin hill overlooks the town of Faucogney-et-la-Mer and the hamlet of Annegray. At 485 meters above sea level, the Saint-Martin church built before the 6th century is one of the oldest churches in Franche-Comté. It dominates the Breuchin valley.

Around the church is one of the oldest cemeteries in France. The choir and the apse of the church as well as the cemetery which surrounds the building are registered by decree of February 24, 1944 as historical monuments. Many tombs are hundred years old, we can read on some tombstones dates of death before 1870.

This cemetery is shared by four towns: Faucogney-et-la-Mer, Esmoulières, La Voivre and Amont-et-Effreney. In the past, during funeral ceremonies, the hearse was pulled by oxen or horses. We walked up to the church by the path of the dead for two kilometers on a slope. In the fifties a tarred road was built for a little over five kilometers.

A brother of Robespierre

The cemetery today has a little over 600 graves, over the years it has been enlarged. But all around the church are the oldest tombs. Some are simple graves with just a cross, it is no longer possible to read a name or a date. Others, on the other hand, are real little monuments. These tombs retrace the past of the municipalities with the graves of notables, great families, industrialists who developed weaving factories, or the graves of notaries or former mayors. A tomb attracts a little more attention, it is that of a brother of Robespierre.

All these very old tombs no longer necessarily have descendants to maintain them. Year after year, without maintenance they end up deteriorating, some crosses threaten to fall or are already on the ground.

An abandonment procedure

The four municipalities: Faucogney-et-la-Mer, Esmoulières, La Voivre and Amont-et-Effreney have launched a procedure for the abandonment of graves. Over a period of three years, everyone must maintain their graves, those that do not have an owner are quickly overgrown. At the end of these three years of regulatory procedure, i.e. early 2022, the municipalities will be able to recover these graves.

Laurent Seguin, the mayor of Faucogney-et-la-Mer explains that “each grave is a small private property on which we have no right to intervene”. When there is no more offspring there is vegetation that grows “monuments threaten to fall, there is danger“. The highly regulated procedure for the abandonment of graves lasts three years, small panels are installed in front of each grave, the owners have three years to make themselves known as mayor. After this period, the municipalities recover the land ownership of the graves. procedure ends in early 2022.

This cemetery has a great wealth, the presence of ancient tombs, they will be preserved. This is the case with graves which have a heritage or historical interest. There are thus tombs of former notables, former priests, former mayors. They will be repaired if necessary and maintained by the municipalities. Other tombs, of no interest, for which there is no longer any possibility of identification, will be taken, the remains will be placed in an ossuary.

The Saint Martin cemetery therefore still looks a bit like an abandoned cemetery.