Rue Constant Ragot

St.-Aignan's main street, rue Constant Ragot, is one way southbound through town. It starts at the river and climbs up the left bank of the Cher, meets up with rue Maurice Berteaux at the Place du Président Wilson, then changes names and heads southward out of town.

Looking south from the river into town.

We moved here in 2003, and that year this street was dug up for reconstruction. The town tore up the old asphalt and repaved with cobblestones for a more old-timey look. They put in new bollards, benches, and planters as part of the job.

The result is pretty nice looking. The street is closed to through traffic on market days, but local traffic can still use it. A couple times during the year there are larger festivals that close the street entirely so it can be lined with booths and exhibits.

Looking north toward the river into the town center. Part of the town's old wall is visible on the right. This would have been the location of the town's southern gate.

In St.-Aignan's medeival history, the street was actually three streets. The first, starting at the river, was called the rue du Cher and is what you see in the top photo. The center section was called the rue de la Boucherie owing to a (now gone) building that housed a butchery.

The third section continued southward to the town gate and was originally called the rue Baudon, but was renamed the rue Saint-François in the seventeenth century. It's what you see in the bottom photo.

These old street names existed through the nineteenth century, and have only changed in the last one hundred years. If my research is correct, Constant Ragot was a local hero of the resistance during the second world war.