Haute Vienne - briefly back in France before returning to warmer climes!

On one sunny day last month, we decided to go for a drive - we do not seem to have had many of those days in the recent weeks!!  We hope that you enjoy this virtual trip as much as we did doing the real thing.

Firstly we drove through the small town of Mezieres sur Issoire, 20 or so miles north of Limoges, in the canton of  Haute-Vienne. We had passed through it by chance a few years ago, following a car navigation route which was avoiding toll roads, and we promised ourselves a return trip!! It is known throughout France for its sheep fairs...

There are loads of concrete sheep throughout the town to remind one of the important role these animals play in the local farming  community.

We then drove on to nearby Mortemart which is labelled as (another!) one of those "most beautiful villages in France". Mortemart is the name of a celebrated French family, whose distinguished military and political history goes back 1000 years and is famous for the beauty of its ladies. One such was a favourite of the Sun King, Louis XIV! We stopped for a look around.

 Above is the covered market in the village centre, erected in the 17th century and restored in 2013. The timber structure is oak, but the boarding supporting the tiles is chestnut, these being the timbers traditionally used for the job. Same in our house! Weekly and monthly fairs were established in 1681 with approval from the Duke of Mortemart and these fairs continue today.

The post office, with not the easiest of accesses for the less agile!

Le chateau des Ducs - the front elevation, with windows of the 15th century. The chateau was built in the 10th century, was dismantled on the orders of Cardinal Richelieu, sold as government property after the Revolution in 1789, but bought back by the family 100 years ago and restored to its present state. It's not open to visitors, but the commentary outside states that inside, there is a granite "spiral" staircase in the 5-sided tower.

The rear view of the chateau, with this grassy slope leading down to a small lake, which is all that remains of a moat which encircled the chateau!

Eglise Saint Hilaire is the ancient chapel of the Augustine convent and became the parish church in the 18th century. The bell tower was added at this time and the church contains a number of treasured features....

The altar inside

These beautiful carved oak choir stalls are from the 15th century. The carvings are all different and represent animals, vegetables and local personages (the order I have put them in is from the original French!).

The recently restored gilded lutrin was made in the 17th century and is topped by the eagle of Saint Jean the Evangelist.

We then drove on to the neighbouring village of Montrol-Sénard.  A portion of the buildings in the village have been turned, by the local council, into an agricultural heritage museum, in a bid not only to preserve the way of life, but to attract visitors! Between April and October, the present villagers seem to get on with life in a working museum and tourist venue!

The old school house

Inside, the desks and benches have the appearance of the 1920's or 1930's, but we missed the guided tour which no doubt would have provided more information! You can see that rudimentary central heating was supplied!

The lavoir. Building work was obviously going on at the time and this would account for the colour of the water!

Old farm equipment laid out everywhere and several of the village buildings were opened up as part of the museum effect.

The old forge, almost as if the farrier has just departed for lunch!!

Grandma's (herb) garden with a good selection of culinary and medicinal plants.

Historic photos and information displayed in yet another building. The enormous detail was a bit overwhelming, but it was satisfying to see that a detailed record of an old way of life had been preserved!

The village church -dedicated to Saint-Julien-de-Brioude with stonework from the 12th century. Most of the building budget in those days was spent on the front! Saint Julien was a Christian soldier in the 14th century, beheaded by his enemies in another part of France but martyred and his head buried in Vienne . He was a popular saint, with about 800 churches in the country dedicated to him!

A view of the altar. Note the exquisitely crafted timber slat vaulted ceiling and the very simple but beautifully restored stone walls!

The ancient carved stone font bearing someone's coat of arms!

To conclude our tour, one of the stained glass windows - impressive!

Also see my daily diary HERE

and My Life Before Charente (updated  25 September 2016) I will get back to this eventually! 

Exploring Pons

Pons is a small picturesque town of about 4,000 people, set in Charente-Maritime (department 17) in south-western France.  The town originally developed because of its position on one of the important pilgrimage routes which followed Roman roads to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. Pons is on one of 4 such roads which start from Paris; however today it doesn't seem to be faring so well, with unemployment recently given at over 16%. It sits on the many-channeled and meandering Seugne river, which is used for boating and other outdoor activities.

Pilgrims negotiating a roundabout! The town makes a lot of its pilgrimage history and there are various tourist trails to explore.

One of two important churches in Pons, the first is dedicated to St Vivien and was built in the 12th century to the romanesque style, but rebuilt 300 years later using some of the original stonework. You can see that plenty of money was spent on  the impressive carved frontage, while the other sides were simpler and cheaper. It's situated just to the left of the roundabout in the first picture!

Inside we see this arty mosaic of uncertain age, depicting a pilgrim of the time making his way to some far-off religious destination, no doubt.

A front view of the old chateau, which has now been put to new use as the mairie. An original chateau was destroyed in  1179 by Richard the Lionheart as a consequence of a rebellion by some of his subjects, but was rebuilt in 1187. It survived until 1621, when Louis XIII's army destroyed it while laying siege to the town. "Several years later", it says, Cesar d'Albret, a french marshal and lord of Pons, had it all rebuilt. Lots of work for builders in those days, then!

Part of the ramparts around the chateau. You can observe the steep drop behind the chateau/mairie, allowing people who sought shelter in the chateau on the high ground to have a good view of any bad guys approaching! Next to the chateau is the donjon (castle keep) to be seen a bit later.

Times must have changed for the better in the 17th century, so presumably there were fewer bands of brigands roaming the land and little need for defences, so the aforesaid Cesar d'Albret might have said to his builders "while you're rebuilding the chateau, can you pop on a "grand escalier" (great staircase), because I need to get  men and materials as fast as possible up to the top to lay out some orchards and landscaping!!" This photo shows only part of the huge piece of work, which links the chateau level with that of the lower town far below and must also have been designed to impress his guests!

A donjon (castle keep) is a fairly standard feature of medieval chateaux (castles) and provides a high security area for the lord, chosen others, food and water in which to shelter during attacks and sieges. This donjon, 33 metres high was built along with the chateau in the 12th century and remains to this day, untouched by the sieges and wars in the intervening years! We were there at lunchtime, so as usual the place was locked up and we couldn't look round it!

Another view of the esplanade (the old chateau inner courtyard), showing the donjon, the mairie behind left, and in front, a monument to Emile Combes, an 19th century local doctor and long-time mayor.

His grand and elaborate monument leads us to believe he was held in high regard by the townspeople and reading his biography, one can see why they felt that way. Mayor of Pons for 43 years, Combes also became a French senator in 1885 and was involved in the political renewal in the country which led to laws separating the Church from the State.

The arched entrance way and entrance doors of the Hôpital des Pèlerins (Pilgrims' Hospital). The ancient cobbled street is lovely, but, yes, you guessed, it was lunch time and the place was shut!

The main entrance archway. If you look carefully at the stonework, ancient graffiti made by the pilgrims of old has been preserved in the restoration works.

A lovely little turret in an unassuming back street caught my eye. You can only wonder who put it there and why?! To see down the street maybe, but it was an expensive way to do it!

The "ruelle des arcades" (walkway of the arches) takes the walker from chateau level to a point much higher up the slope. Quite a puff! The arch is only about the height of a medieval man - 1.65 metres or 5 feet 5 inches.

The chapel of Saint Gilles is now the archaeological museum, but more importantly it is about the last vestige of the original 12th century chateau complex (apart from the donjon). The chapel is built on top of a Roman vaulted passage mentioned in ancient documents.

Very elaborate burial vaults in the old cemetery on top of the hill overlooking the chateau.

Ghost sign - Antar is a former French petroleum company, founded by Pechelbronn SA in  Alsace in 1927, but its origins go back to 1745 when oil wells were drilled in the vicinity. Never knew there was oil in France! Antar has been gobbled up by larger companies, but the name lives on in 'Antargaz' which is a current bottled LPG product. Interesting company history!

The other large church in the centre of Pons is Eglise Saint Martin, and it fills one side of a shady and quiet tree-lined square. A Turkish kebab shop sits rather uneasily on another side!

Beautiful stained glass window in that church. It seems to be illustrating the "miracle of a pine tree".

Also see my daily diary HERE

and My Life Before Charente (updated  25 September 2016) I will get back to this eventually!