It originated in or near the port town of Marans, in the département of Charente-Maritime, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.

[8]: 126  However, it is not certain that the Marans – with unfeathered shanks – shown by Lord Greenway at the Crystal Palace in 1934 descended even partly from this French stock.

[8]: 126  According to the Poultry Club of Great Britain, the British Marans derives from cross-breeding of a variety of breeds including the Braekel, the Coucou de Malines, the Coucou de Rennes, the Croad Langshan, the Gâtinaise, the Faverolles and the barred Plymouth Rock.

[8]: 127 Ten colours are recognised in the French breed standard for large fowl: white, wheaten, silver cuckoo, golden cuckoo, black, copper-black, silver-black, copper-blue, black-tailed buff and Columbian.

[1] It is a dual-purpose bird, reared both for its dark brown eggs and for its table qualities.