Prouilly

Location

Prouilly lies in the north-west of the Marne département, around 18 kilometres from Reims. It is about 65 kilometres to the prefecture, Châlons-en-Champagne, and about 15 to Fismes. Administratively the village belongs to the arrondissement of Reims and the canton of Fismes-Montagne de Reims. In agricultural terms the commune is counted as part of the Tardenois.

The commune covers 1019 hectares and rises from 65 metres at the Vesle to 207 metres near the Mont Die. The village itself sits in the middle of the commune at the foot of the slopes of the Massif de Saint-Thierry. The Vesle forms the southern boundary with Jonchery-sur-Vesle and Muizon. Four hamlets belong to it: l'Orée du Bois, la Chute des Eaux, the Ferme de Naurois and Les Trois Bouts de Bois.

Vineyards and landscape

Prouilly is classified neither as grand cru nor as premier cru. Anyone looking for champagne here will not find a resounding vineyard name, but a village on the edge of the Reims wine landscape. The land use tells the story: woodland makes up 36.9 per cent of the area, arable land 32.5 per cent, permanent crops 15.4 per cent. On the Massif de Saint-Thierry, permanent crops typically means vineyards. The climate is oceanic, with an average annual temperature of around 10.7 °C and about 734 millimetres of rainfall (readings from the nearest station, Chambrecy, 1991 to 2020).

“LocationProuilly lies in the north-west of the Marne département, around 18 kilometres from Reims.

The origin of the name is interesting: one of the handed-down derivations is Provinicelliacus, meaning "near the little vine". It is not certain, but it fits the area.

History

The village's coat of arms combines the arms of fourteen noble families. In 1231 a knight named Ebalus was lord of Prouilly, and in 1352 Jean de Tournières. The old château must have been an important one: surviving documents mention terraces, vaulted rooms and staircases.

Charles de Cazanove Champagner

A crime that became known far beyond the region took place here: on 20 August 1785 the "Grande Jeannette" and her accomplices murdered seven people at the Cuissat mill on the Vesle. The sentence was death on the wheel, carried out in Reims in 1786. She is regarded as the last person to be publicly tortured in France. Her skeleton was then used for decades to teach medical students in Reims. On 15 August 1842 Prouilly was almost completely destroyed.

Things to see

• Romanesque church of Saint-Pierre from the 12th and 13th centuries, protected as a monument historique
• House of the Knights Templar
• The La Husse tumulus, also called La Butte

In the Prouilly woods, a former light railway also recalls the history of the area. The commune has 549 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2023) and has been twinned with Soresti in Romania since 1990.

For enthusiasts

Prouilly makes a quiet stop on the way between Reims and the Vesle valley. The church, the tumulus and the river combine into a short walk before you head into Reims to visit the big houses.