- The origins of Évrecy:
- In the 7th century in Evrecy, a monastery which enjoyed great notoriety existed. At the time, the land on which this religious building was built belonged to the bishopric of Bayeux. We also find traces of a certain Saint Annobert or Hubert (654 - 706), former abbot of Evrecy, to whom the inhabitants would have devoted a cult. This monastery will be destroyed in the 9th century by the various barbarian invasions in Normandy. In 1867, the discovery to the north of our town and immediately next to the town, in a field called "les Madeleines", of 35 graves from the Gallo-Roman period had enabled experts at the time to assert that Évrecy had must have been a religious center of some importance. Religious annals dating from the 7th century already make reference to a locality called OBRECIUM, HEBRECIUM or even EVRECHIUM. But the name most often found in these writings is EVRECEIUM. This is undoubtedly the origin of the current name of the municipality.
- In the 10th century, the bishops of Bayeux regained possession of the lands of Évrecy to establish a Châtellenie there in the 11th century. The châtellenie was the name given to the justice rendered by the lord of the castle who owned a castle or a fortified house. Indeed, in 1037, the bishop Hugues II of Bayeux owned on the land of Évrecy (then called VRECI) a keep and a castle called "castle of Montifila". This castle was located on a stately motte to the south-west of the village. The path which ran alongside this place and which climbs from the church to the town hall square still bears the name of "chemin du château".
- From 1204, it is the kings of France who become holders of the châtellenie of Evrecy. On March 23, 1371, King Charles VI visited the fortress of VRECHY (probably one of the last developments towards the current name of the town).
- In 1417, Henry V, King of England, took possession of the lands of Évrecy. It was not until around 1450, after the deliverance of Normandy, that the kings of France regained the châtellenie.
- From that moment, the castle and fortress will fall into oblivion before falling into ruin... At the end of the 17th century, the keep of Évrecy no longer existed, only its enclosure could still be seen.
- Évrecy during the 1st World War:
- In 2015, 9 students of the Paul Verlaine college of Évrecy as part of the Young Historian of Calvados Prize, created a blog dedicated to the First War world in this department.
- They chose to study the impact of World War I at Évrecy. To do this, they reconstructed the list of mobilized men from Évrecy, tried to draw up a human toll of the conflict and also wondered about the way in which this town mourned its deaths in the 1920s. also noted the presence of refugees from the occupied departments and were interested in the way in which solidarity was exercised in times of war.
- June 15, 1944: Évrecy bombed: Évrecy paid an exceptionally heavy tribute to the fighting in the summer of 1944. During the three successive bombings during this period, the town lost 130 of these fellow citizens out of a population total of about 400 people. The shells destroyed 86% of the village, leaving the survivors with a huge field of ruins.
- Here is the story of what 400 people experienced during the night of June 14 to 15, 1944. These notes were taken by Mr. Pierre Voisin, Honorary Mayor of the town, during the bombardments (Extract from the book " Évrecy - June 15, 1944 "published by the municipality on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the bombings).
- The story of Mr. Pierre Voisin: 3h to 3.20am: Aerial bombardment of Évrecy. Frightening. Moonless night. Impossible to discern the bursts of bombs as there were so many during the first 15 minutes. It's hell ! 40 people in the cellar where everything is pitching like a cargo ship. Start of panic. Many want to run away: they must be calmed down. After a quarter of an hour, a short respite, followed by a second less violent wave. Teams were immediately formed to organize the rescue of the wounded who flocked to the first-aid station headed by Doctor Gabriel Hauttement. He shows admirable courage. He lavishes as best he can, without stopping, his care for the victims, while the first two wounded that are brought to him are his mother and his sister: they expire one after the other in his arms. Évrecy is almost completely shaved. Unbreathable atmosphere. The cries of the wounded and the walled up erupt from all sides. Entire families have disappeared: killed, suffocated in shelters, burned in the many fires. Around 3 p.m., the emergency teams of the Red Cross in Caen succeeded in reaching Évrecy and in evacuating, at the cost of enormous difficulties, 36 seriously injured people on the Bon Sauveur. The slightly injured remain temporarily in place. In the evening, 28 bodies rest under the porch of the church, the vaults of which have partially collapsed. How sad ! What desolation! No more houses... no more roads... everything is collapsed, torn off, turned over... indescribable jumble... impassable streets: the rubble sometimes exceeds 3 meters... plus a leaf on the trees... plus one bird...
