Attractions and Places To See around Saint-Pellerin - Top 16

Avoid the national road, very busy

Placed under the patronage of Saint Hilaire, this parish was given by Gannelon de Montigny, lord of the place, to the abbey of Marmoutier around 1042. Its reconstruction probably dates from this period; it then became a priory. The church has a rectangular nave ending in a choir with a flat chevet. An examination of the masonry easily reveals two distinct periods of construction: the Romanesque period and the Renaissance. Built of flint rubble with rendering, the western part of the building appears to date from the 11th or 12th century. A limestone cornice supported by rather crude corbels underlines the base of the roof. To the south, two narrow Romanesque windows flared inwards light the nave. To the north, the bays were later reworked and enlarged. On this same side, a Romanesque doorway was walled up; It allowed the church to connect with a building whose traces of detachment remain. The bell tower was built to the north of the Romanesque nave, extending the western façade. The absence of a connection between the east and west walls of the bell tower and the north wall of the nave clearly indicates that it is an entirely later construction. However, its crowning is much later, as evidenced by its cornice, whose molding is in the classical style. Flanked by obliquely angled buttresses, it is covered with a saddleback roof. The eastern half of the church appears to be an extension built during the Renaissance period. Its ogee-shaped cornice and the decoration of the eastern gable, as well as the moldings of the buttress bands, attest to this dating. A vast rectangular choir then appears to have replaced a semicircular Romanesque apse; the eastern gable and the southern and northern façades were then pierced with networked bays. In the lower part of the north façade, projecting ashlars appear to have supported the roof of a lean-to building. To the south, a sacristy was built in the 19th century. Inside, the entire building is covered with a paneled vault with exposed tie beams and kingposts. The 18th-century high altar is surmounted by an Assumption of the Virgin inspired by Murillo's. For the restoration of the roofs and façades, the Sauvegarde de l'Art Français (French National Art Protection Agency) awarded a grant of €30,490 in 2001.

The Saint Hilaire church is a vast building from the end of the 11th or 12th century which originally consisted of only a nave with choir and semi-circular apse supported by slightly protruding buttresses made of grison, an extremely hard ferruginous agglomerate which does not allow any work. of sculpture. You can see the primitive work in the walls of the nave and the choir with its small windows and the exterior buttresses in gray. Its appearance was considerably modified during the Renaissance period, when a transept was added, then during a second campaign of transformations, the small side chapels of the choir covered with ribbed vaults with vines and tiers which would have had to be topped with a pavilion roof. The entire monument is covered with a paneled vault with visible beams and hallmarks; above the sanctuary the shingle decorated with arabesques and painted cherubs' heads bears the date 1561. In the 17th century, like many churches of the time, the glass roof at the bottom of the apse was closed to build an altarpiece then fashionable, as it is today with the woodwork that accompanies it. On the west side of the north transept, above the small shed, we can clearly see in the masonry a stone arch which is perhaps the beginning of the cloister mentioned in the archives. In addition to the charm of its Renaissance parts, this church is fortunate to have beautiful furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries which preserves the appearance it had under the Ancien Régime: a lectern dated 1754, modified in 1784 with a antiphonary and a Chartres gradual from 1784. It is in perfect condition, as the cantors must have used it before the revolution. Another valuable piece, the solid oak work bench, cleaned a few years ago of the paint with which it had been decorated, and which now serves as an altar to meet the new standards of the liturgy for the mass facing the faithful.

The 12th century church of Saint Jean-Baptiste de Courtalain, already repaired in 1592, was rebuilt in 1809, increased by an aisle in 1838, then by a remarkable porch bell tower topped with a twelve meter spire. height, thanks to the generosity of the Montmorency family, owner of the castle. It is to Guillaume Davaugour and Perette de Baïf, his wife, that we attribute the erection of the Courtalain chapel into a parish church; The church is located in the immediate perimeter of the castle. The entire building is partly covered with flat tiles for the roof of the nave, the bell tower, the staircase turret; the three cut sides of the apse and the lower north side are covered in natural slate. Inside the nave is a Mutin Cavaillé Coll organ dating from 1936. It contains several interesting paintings.

Before the 13th century there were two parishes, Saint-Sauveur and Saint-Gilles, in 1300 the bishop of Chartres united them into one by a charter of Berchères, because of the smallness of the two parishes. The church dates from the beginning of the 17th century. Rebuilt on the foundations of an old Romanesque church, its originality comes from its bell tower with saddle roof, its caquetoire and its paneled vault redone in 2003. At the initiative of the Prince Duke of Montmorency-Laval, it has contained the reliquary of Sainte-Félicité since 1838. Saint Félicité, whose relics are in Montigny-le-Gannelon, is a martyr whose life is unknown, whose body was taken from the sacred cemeteries of Rome. We have his body, the skull, the bones of his arms, fingers and feet. They were removed from the Saint-Cyriaque cemetery in 1828 and placed in their respective places on a body artistically modeled in wax and measuring more than 1.40 meters in length. A magnificent chase, of the shape and size of an altar tomb, all furnished with glazing and embellished with gilding received this precious deposit. Pope Leo XII donated it to the Duke of Laval, then Charles X's ambassador to Rome. On his death, he bequeathed it by will to the church of Montigny-le-Gannelon where the old historic castle of Laval-Montmorency is located. The venerated hunt is now placed under the main altar of which it forms the tomb.

Almost nothing is reliably known about the life of Saint George (Saint-GEORGES), to whom the church of Cloyes-sur-le-Loir was dedicated, but the veneration of his person goes back to early Christianity. A martyr identified with George is said to have lived in the third century. However, the legend of St. George as a dragon slayer is well known and widespread; he is usually depicted - in paintings or as a statue - as the conqueror of the monster, often as a knight on horseback. The memorial day of the very popular George - he is, among other things, patron of the English kingdom - in the calendar of saints is April 23rd.

Very pleasant walk

The Saint-Georges church in Cloyes-sur-le-Loir is beautifully situated. And you look at everything. If you are not careful, you overlook the oversized scallop shell. The tip here will help you. Look at the photos!