Send Gift Baskets to Antony, France

Antony has a long history dating back to the Gallo-Roman era in the third century. There is a link between its history and that of the Royal Domain established by the Capetian kings in the 10th century, which gave rise to the Île-de-France.

People settled along the edges of the plateau overlooking the valley in prehistoric times, and the Bois de Verrières still bears the traces of their settlements. From the beginning, access and water determined which sites to select. The village that later gave birth to Antony was established in a location conducive to human settlement: a hillside site with many advantages—easy to protect because of its height, richer soil than on the plateau, and above the marshes, but at the level of water sources that rise from the green marl, so it was not subject to flooding. There are many fountains in Rue de l’Eglise and Avenue du Bois-de-Verrières, as well as place names (Sources, Gouttieres) that indicate the presence of this water table.

When the cemetery was being moved from in front of the church in 1852, sarcophagi initially believed to be Frankish or Merovingian were discovered. People have lived around the Gallo-Roman villa for thousands of years.

Between the 10th and 15th centuries, the Lordship of Antony was a significant dependency of Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey. At Antony, there was a ford known as Pont-aux-Fnes (Bridge of the Asses) from Roman and medieval times. A hillside location connected Antony to Montlhéry, a critical stronghold that monitored Paris’ southern approaches. Besides the Tour d’Argent (Tower of Silver), Antony also had a small fortress in the upper part of the village overlooking the ford and possibly serving as a defensive structure.