Saint-Germain-sur-Ay

The name of the parish, in the form Saint Germain de Focherville and its variants, occurs between 1150 and 1186. The current name of Saint Germain sur Ay only appears in 1190. Around 1150, Richard de La Haye du Puits founded in Saint Germain sur Ay a priory which he placed under the obedience of the Abbey of Mont Saint Michel by attaching to it the income of the fief of Fourqueville. From then on, the history of the parish of Saint Germain sur Ay will merge with that of its priory for several centuries.
In the small cove of the Gavérie, the port of Saint Germain sur Ay has known a certain activity since the most remote times until around 1900 when it ceased to exist administratively. At the beginning of the 17th century, the port was still very busy, but for having served to supply the besieged La Rochelle protected by the lords of the canton, almost all Protestants, it was prohibited around 1630 and later still around 1720, in advantage of that of Carteret on the pretext that the remoteness of the trading posts made smuggling there too easy. After the disappearance of the saltworks and the decline of the pitch which had made it one of the most active centers of the Cotentin in the Middle Ages, the harbor had changed its face a little, the bottom was raised and covered with grass. shave which is called here "grapillon". The geese were numerous there, the sheep also, known as salt-meadows, which grazed there in complete freedom. saintgermainsuray.eu

Nice little village for a break on the GR..