Welcome to Beaucourt, following in the footsteps of Frédéric Japy

Park at the Les Pins Cemetery car park, Chemin des Fossés, Beaucourt.
This walk is signposted with a Red Ring.

(S/E) Walk to the far end of the car park, where an information board provides details of this walk.
Just after the sign, turn right and follow the path running alongside Chemin Trépoux. As you emerge from the woods, walk along the left-hand side of the stadium, then, staying on the ‘ridge’, pass between the two sports facilities. Join Rue de la Carrière (Champ de Mars) and follow it to the left. Cross the D57 – take care – and climb up the Grammont.

Ignore one path on the right and one on the left. A sign indicates the summit at an altitude of 57m; turn right at this sign. Descend the path, which has around fifty steps (be careful, it’s slippery in wet weather).

At the bottom of the steps, a short 50-metre detour to the left takes you to a superb shelter. Then continue along the path which descends more gently.

(1) At this junction, note the hollow in the limestone. The limestone has collapsed: this is a sinkhole. At this point, turn right

(2) After 150 metres, look out for the signpost to take the path on the left.
Shortly afterwards, a sign suggests a short 150m detour to admire the view from the Charme picnic area, which offers a view of the town, its heritage and the peaks of the Vosges.

(3) Retrace your steps and continue along the path to the right, following the signposts. Turn right to reach the Montbouton–Beaucourt junction. Cross the D39 – take care – and head right towards Beaucourt. After 100 metres, take the path on the left.

At the entrance to the village, before the first houses, take the path to the left and then to the right. You’ll arrive at the Grands Champs housing estate via Allée du Grammont. An information board indicates the location of Koechlin Castle, built around 1810 and destroyed in 1970 in a fire.

Head straight down the bridle path, which leads to the former Fonteneilles factory, now an old building with broken windows. About 200 metres further on, on the right, is the Frédéric-Japy Museum.

(4) Turn left into Rue Frédéric Japy (D40). On your left is Bornèque-Warnery Castle and, 100 metres further on, the magnificent lodge of the caretaker of Monsieur Jules’s castle.
Retrace your steps and enter the municipal park through the Cuvier gate. Admire the trees, many of which are several centuries old, particularly the majestic cedars.

(5) As you continue along the Allée des Tilleuls, there’s a viewpoint overlooking the Lomont mountain range. Nearby is Château Fernand, which is currently home to a restaurant. Leave the park via the Frédéric Japy gate.

(6) Cross the Pont des Soupirs, turn right immediately afterwards and then right again to pass under the bridge. 100 metres further on, admire Château Edouard on your left.

(7) Cross Rue des Déportés and follow Passage Salengro opposite. On your left is the Fontaine du Loup. On your right, you can see Allée du Souvenir Français, where the P. Sellier memorial stone stands. Near the Town Hall, you’ll notice the Coq Japy, the Salengro Music School and, opposite, the Georges Brassens Hall. Cross Place Salengro by first turning right then left, then turn right onto Rue Alfred Pechin.

(8) Then head up the Passage Châtelot on the right and, opposite, slightly set back to the right, the Impasse des Combasles.
Cross Rue P. Beucler and follow Rue des Vertillots straight ahead, then turn right onto Rue du Rosier d’Amour. Turn left onto Rue Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny. After a right-hand bend, the road becomes a path through the countryside (Chemin des Charmottes).

Carry on straight ahead to reach the cemetery and the starting point (S/E).

The walk starts at the Les Pins cemetery car park, Chemin des Fossés, in Beaucourt.

Visorando was provided with this information by Mr Chevalley, a volunteer at Balisage90, based on the walk description published by the Sud-Territoire Community of Communes under the name ‘Rando famille 1’.
The route is signposted with a Red Ring.

History of the Japy saga.

From the late 18th century to the late 1970s, the town of Beaucourt lived to the rhythm of the Japy family.
This particularly enterprising Protestant dynasty built one of the most powerful French industrial empires of the 19th century.
Frédéric Japy settled in Beaucourt in 1777. He introduced machine tools and mechanised the manufacture of watches, clocks and screws. Very quickly, he diversified production to include travel clocks, coffee grinders, enamelled saucepans, hand pumps and office supplies. He also manufactured the famous Japy typewriters (the 2012 film *Populaire*, starring Romain Duris, tells this story) and contributed to the war effort by producing, between 1915 and 1918, over 3 million of the famous Adrian helmets worn by the *Poilus*.
Over the course of a century, the company’s workforce grew from 50 workers in 1777 to 5,500 in 1870, whilst the population of Beaucourt rose from 250 to 4,000 inhabitants. Towards the end of the 19th century, other, larger factories were built to produce heavy electrical equipment, household items made of wrought iron, tin-plated, enamelled and varnished iron, and agricultural machinery. Workers flocked to the area, and numerous workers’ housing estates were built near the factories. One of the Japy houses even won an award at the 1867 Paris World’s Fair. The development of the manufacturing industry went hand in hand with the implementation of a paternalistic policy. This commitment to ensuring a certain standard of living for employees led to the funding of nursery schools (formerly known as ‘salles d’asile’), schools, public baths, a church (to meet the needs of a partly Protestant population) and numerous homes. Thanks to their success, the Japy family had a dozen company-owned châteaux built to house successive generations of the family.
The Japy family played a pivotal role in the industrialisation of northern Franche-Comté. Many of its members held positions in numerous national industrial and commercial organisations. A few even entered politics and served in the Senate. Marguerite Jeanne Japy, wife of the painter Steinheil, is known for having had an affair with the President of the Republic, Félix Faure, who died in her arms at the Élysée Palace.

On the Grammont, one of the peaks of the Lomont range in the Jura, lies an ancient Neolithic settlement and numerous burial mounds erected by a Celtic tribe. In the 19th century, this site yielded numerous skeletal remains and Neolithic artefacts.

The viewpoint (3) offers a view of Beaucourt’s heritage, including its Protestant church (1812–1815), which was partly funded by the Japy Society.
You can also see the Church of Saint-François de Sales, built from 1856 onwards for the Catholic congregation (who, until then, had to travel to Montbouton, a neighbouring village, to attend Sunday mass).
Also take a look at the workers’ housing estates, the Japy factories (and the peaks of the Vosges!).

The Fonteneilles factory (2), built in 1807 to the west of the Pendulerie (now the Japy Museum), housed workshops
for locksmithing, hardware and the manufacture of watch movements. Destroyed by fire in 1881, the rebuilt factory took the name ‘Fer à Cheval’ and became the production site for the famous Japy typewriters until 1974. The building now has broken windows.

Do make a detour to the Frédéric Japy Museum.
It is well worth a visit and rounds off this walk perfectly. The building housing the museum is a former Japy factory specialising in small-scale metalworking and watchmaking, known as ‘La Pendulerie’. Built on the site of the first factory, established in 1777, it enabled the mass production of watch movements at a time when all manufacturing operations were carried out by hand. It also brings to life the story of the company’s founder through his ingenious machine tools.

To maintain all their castles and to serve them, the Japy family employed servants, coachmen, gardeners, valets… The small chalet with its green glazed tiles is the former gatehouse of Jules Japy’s castle, which was itself destroyed by fire.

The Parc des Cèdres originally housed a château built by Pierre Japy, which was later inhabited by Jules Japy before a fire ravaged it in 1975. Two giant cedars are said to have been planted there by Georges Cuvier, a palaeontologist from Montbéliard and a friend of the Japy family. Many other species of ancient trees still adorn this lovely park: giant sequoias, purple beeches, tulip trees, and so on.

Château Fernand (Japy) (5), built in the late 19th–early 20th century, was partially destroyed by a fire around 1995. Left derelict for a long time, the château and its outbuildings, situated at the rear, have been beautifully restored. They now house a high-quality restaurant, ‘La Terrasse’, as well as lodges and guest rooms.

The Pont des Soupirs (6) provided a crossing between the Japy châteaux and the factories. Come evening, it was a meeting place for lovers of that era.

Château Edouard, also known as Château des Vignes, is already listed on the 1816 land register.
The agricultural buildings (farmhouse, barn, stables, orangery) lend the site its sense of unity. A restaurant called “L’Écurie” has been established in the former barn-and-stables building. The second château built on the Coteau des Vignes was originally constructed for Robert Japy.

The Fontaine du Loup is a former washhouse built next to a marsh and later converted into a fountain at the end of the 18th century. Legend has it that a wolf coming down from Grammont used to quench its thirst at this spot, hence the name.

Near the war memorial, the P. Sellier stele was erected in memory of Pierre Sellier, a resident of Beaucourt, famous for being the first to ring the bell announcing the armistice on 7 November 1918 at La Capelle in the Aisne.

The Japy rooster. Situated in front of the town hall, this 2-tonne, 3.80-metre-high metal sculpture was created in 2009 by Denis Lucaselli and Patrick Choffat. It is made from materials salvaged from the demolition site of local factories. This rooster pays tribute to the industrial activity at the Fonteneilles site, drawing inspiration from the Japy brand’s emblem.

The Japy family quickly took the reins of the local council. In addition to the workers’ housing estates, they initiated or funded numerous public facilities, such as local schools. The first school was built in 1840, the second in 1875. The school on Place Salengro was built in 1883 by the architect Aristide Poisat to house a boys’ school and a nursery school. Today, it houses a primary school and the municipal music school.

To find out more about the Japy châteaux, see Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Châteaux_...