Calvary of the Croix-du-Bois

From the 16th century it is present but in plural: "the Croix-de-Bois", obvious sign that there are several in a reduced space.

The cadastre of 1819 confirms, nearly three centuries later an isolated house is designated under this same name. A cross: the Croix-de-Bois is attested on the plateau from the 18th century. It appears on the administration map of Voisins (1787) at the junction between the path that leads from Voisins to Châteaufort and the departmental path CD 36, today called Rue aux Fleurs.

Its size is certainly quite significant because it appears as mark on the 18th century’s Hunts map. Erected on the boundary of the two parishes, it gives its name to the nearby property.

The big house built in Magny at the beginning of the 20th century, on the edge of the wood still called "La garenne de Magny" in the 18th century, gave its name to the whole, the quarries and the wood belonged to the whole.

There is no trace today of this isolated cross apart from the places appearing on the cadastre of Voisins. "The Croix-du-Bois", the "concessions to the Croix-du-Bois" and the "path of the Croix-de-Bois" called path of the "Croix-des-Bois" appeared on the cadastre of Magny (1819).

The cross recently restored by the ONF located below therefore corresponds to a different cross than the one on the plateau. It stands on the edge of the valley on the territory of Magny-les-Hameaux.

Built again in the second half of the 19th century, it then received the cast iron Christ restored recently. A postcard from the beginning of the century shows it turned to the Village of Magny on a space that was clear at that time but which has since then been reached by the forest.

Text extracted from the article "The Croix-du-Bois in Magny-les-Hameaux" of the Municipal Bulletin Nº15 - January 1997