The best traffic-free bike rides around Gellainville

What to do with the disused water tower? ... that's the question Marc Molet, the mayor of the commune of Soulaires, has asked himself many times. Finally, the project to give the water tower a second life has come to fruition: a water tower in local colors! In addition to the local colors, the painters wanted to add a humorous touch by painting some of our rural "companions".

Of Romanesque origin, the church, surrounded by a cemetery, has a curious bell tower supported by machicolations and uprights of sandstone, making it one of the most unique in the region. Perhaps it was originally a bell gable, later augmented by a platform supported by these machicolations? In front of the entrance, a small building called a "caquetoire" (a small meeting place) allows the faithful to gather and converse. Inside the church, the furnishings date from the 18th and 19th centuries: a marble high altar and its gray-painted wooden altarpiece (18th century) – a painted wooden altarpiece of St. Joseph (late 18th or early 19th century) an altarpiece for the altar of the Virgin Mary (19th century) a baptismal font in red-veined marble (19th century) a waxed wooden pew (18th century) a waxed wooden choir stall upholstered in velvet paintings: the Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Octave Hauser (1839) and the Annunciation (18th century) The stained-glass windows date from 1874. The church and the eclipse A bit of history: The parish, established in the 13th century, was part of the deanery of Courville. The church's patron saint, Luperche or Luperchius, gave his name to the village. We must go back to the 4th century to find the first trace of this saint: At that time, Dacius, governor of the part of Spain that included Catalonia, Aragon, and the Kingdom of Valencia, was one of the most cruel ministers of persecution. Incited by the emperors Diocletian and Maximilian, he had eighteen confessors of Jesus Christ executed in the city of Zaragoza. In their honor, the poet Prudentius wrote hymns, and among these confessors, a certain martyr named Luperche became the patron saint of our church.

The oldest document mentioning the Church of Saint-Martin in Fresnay-le-Comte is the charter of Renaud de Mouçon, Bishop of Chartres, confirming the possessions of the Abbey of Marmoutier, near Tours. This charter dates only from the last years of the 12th century, but the church's foundation may have already existed at that time. The building comprises two parts of roughly equal size and from different periods. The older part, roughly corresponding to the nave, is of a rather undefined style. The west portal, with its pointed arch devoid of any decoration, may date back to the 12th or 13th century, as may the first window of the nave, on the right. In the north wall, there is a small, walled-up doorway, whose lintel, adorned with an accolade, is no earlier than the 15th century, but the relieving arch above it appears older, perhaps from the 12th century. Half of the church, including almost the entire chancel, is from a more recent period and easily recognizable. The polygonal apse and the windows with their flamboyant tracery of late design indicate the very end of the 15th century. An inscription on one of the chancel's tie beams gives a precise date: In the year 1529, this chancel was completely rebuilt. The statue of the Virgin Mary was baptized during the Mass of October 30, 2021, by Father Pierre Paul. This statue, moved from the Chapel of the Three Marys in Mignières, was restored by Mr. Martial Moulin, a sculptor from Chartres.

According to tradition, the church choir covers the remains of an older building, possibly dating back to the 6th century, which was built to house the saint's body. According to current knowledge, the commune of Saint-Piat (Sanctus Piatus in Latin) officially appeared in 1087, mentioned in a charter of the Nottonville Priory (Eure-et-Loir), on which it depended. The current building was rebuilt during the time of Francis I, as suggested by the date 1535 engraved on two buttresses of the apse and the date 1542 engraved on a piece of wood from the vault. This is according to a study by the SAEL (Eure-et-Loir Archaeological Society). The three-sided apses, the dripstone towers (horizontal members projecting from a wall), and the sculpted roof structures are a testament to the importance of the reconstructions carried out in the department during the 16th century. The church of Saint-Piat is one of them. While the church has not been officially recognized, it nevertheless contains objects that have attracted attention both for their antiquity and quality, but not always for good reason. Their artistic value, far from attracting only religious or aesthetic interest, has also aroused a covetousness that, unfortunately, remains for some of them. Fortunately, those still in place are carefully cared for and offer the curious a story to discover, a beauty to slowly ponder as they progress toward the choir.

The town's monumental heritage is defined by the Church of Saint-Cyr and Sainte-Julitte. Built in the 12th century, the building underwent numerous modifications during the 13th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The apse sanctuary is lit by five 12th-century Romanesque windows, while the choir and nave date from the 13th century. Like some fifty churches around Chartres, the Huguenots set fire to the church of Jouy in 1568. However, the walls were not destroyed. Only the building's portal is listed as a Historic Monument by decree of December 30, 1913. This listing was motivated by the architecture of the portal, which features foliate capitals. Nevertheless, the church also has a rectangular tower, a polygonal staircase turret, and a wooden vaulted tower.

The church, located in the heart of the village, is originally a Romanesque building composed of a nave from the 11th and 12th centuries, ending with a cul-de-four apse in blocking and pierced by three Romanesque bays with splays. Today, the central bay is hidden. An imposing western massif precedes the nave, it has been modified over the centuries, in particular in the second half of the 18th century, and it has a squat bell tower. The entire tower is treated in local limestone as well as the buttresses, the frame of the portal and the bays. The church was enlarged at the beginning of the 16th century by the addition of a chapel to the south and by the addition, a little later in the century, of an aisle. Its dimensions are approximately 30 m long and 18 m wide. The facade is very sober; It is pierced by a door with a broken profile whose external arch is highlighted by a dripstone. An oculus was opened in the upper part of the gable wall. The church underwent major work between 1880 and 1925 approximately. In 1879-1880, the sacristy was completely redone, then in 1912 the entire roof was redone in slate with the exception of the apse. The interior porch is the most carefully designed element of this architecture. The semicircular portal, giving direct access to the nave, is enhanced by a molded torus with a diamond point pattern falling on small columns. This porch is covered with a ribbed vault which falls on the four corner columns with foliate capitals. The nave and aisle are covered with a paneled framework which suffers from disorders. The vaults of the choir and the apse were restored over the centuries and their stained glass windows were made during a campaign between 1919 and 1924. The chapel of the Virgin and the corbels were decorated with paint at the end of the 19th century. The altar and the canopy of the Virgin are in the neo-Gothic style. Two notable elements of the old statuary remain: a quality statue of the Virgin, probably from the 16th or 17th century and a small Saint Vincent of local manufacture. The condition of the framework and the roof of the choir required work, as did all the timbers which had to be treated. To this end, the Sauvegarde de l’Art français made a contribution of €5,000 in 2011.

Unfortunately, the church was not accessible when I visited (mid-September 2024). You could only look in through a gate and the dance of death depictions on the left side were not really visible. In front of them were transparencies with skeleton drawings. Maybe those were the depictions...

The nave was built in the middle of the 12th century, as indicated by the Romanesque door under the bell tower, on the site of the first church destroyed in 858 by Hasting. The bell tower was built at the end of the 12th century. 18.40 m long by 8.75 m wide, it was flanked by eight chapels destroyed during the fire of March 15, 1568, as well as a large part of the building (after the passage of the Huguenots). Only two of these chapels have been preserved: on the left, it houses the baptismal funds with the statue of the Sacred Heart and on the right the old confessional. The building was next to the Saints Pères farm which depended on the Saint-Pierre de Chartres abbey, very powerful in the 12th century. It was undoubtedly a place of prayer very frequented by numerous monks, hence the number of chapels. After the fire of 1568, the lord of Ver, Messire BELOT, raised the destroyed part in 1572 and added an extension to the east, 14.50 m long and 8.75 m wide; two ogival windows illuminated this new part, while an immense wooden altarpiece masked the apse. In 1850, Father PROUST had the five neo-Gothic windows pierced which light the choir and it was the LORIN workshop which installed the glass roofs and the stained glass window of the apse. Finally, the chapel of the Holy Virgin was erected in 1866 by this same priest. The vault was renovated in 1980; Made from chestnut strips, it is the work of Mr. PELTIER, former companion of the Tour de France. The curiosity remains the sundial, on the interior facade above the entrance door, a dial which faces east. The patron saint of the parish is Saint Victur (or Victor), former bishop of Le Mans, represented by one of the statues near the old altar, while Saint Roch and Saint Barbara watch over the side chapels, near the fonts. On each side of the old altar, two shrines contain the relics of Saint Victur on the right and Saint Facundi Marcellus on the left. In the chapel of the Holy Virgin, two statues frame the altar: Mary, child with her mother Saint Anne and Jesus child carrying the world while the Virgin sits above with Jesus. This chapel receives light through three stained glass windows which represent the mysteries of the Rosary: joyful, painful and glorious mysteries, coming from the Carmelites of Le Mans. The central altar is from 1983; on the facade, the sculpted frieze of the Lamb comes from the old altar of the Carmelites of Chartres, given to the parish of Ver and which had become too dilapidated. Mr. COLAS, craftsman, carried out this beautiful work. To the left of the nave, opposite the pulpit, a wooden altarpiece frames Our Lady of Lourdes, while at Mary's feet, Saint Joan of Arc and little Thérèse of Lisieux keep watch. Opposite them, Saint Anthony of Padua searches with the stunned. Near the sacristy door, an altar is dedicated to the good Saint Joseph.