Ancienne église prieurale

English translation

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History

The history of the priory is very fragmentary. In the 10th century, it was given to the abbey of Saint-Sever by Guillaume Sanche, Duke of Gascony. From the 11th to the 13th century, the priory was the political ally of the Kings of England. It was also a frequently visited stopping-place on the coastal route towards Spain. Of the priory, there remained still in the 18th century a large church with three naves and two bell towers. The one installed on the crossing collapsed in 1790, ruining the rest of the building. The western bell tower and the Gothic portal are the only elements having escaped the demolitions of 1898-1899. The preserved bell tower is constituted by a quadrangular tower whose interior is covered by a vault of fifteen metres in height, whose toric ribs come down on sculpted consoles. The lower part of the tower, designed as a porch, was pierced, to the north and south, by arcades carried by twin small columns. A thick forward section contains the western portal which is ornamented with sculpted decoration on three principal voussures (wise and foolish Virgins, labours of the months, prophets). Large statues frame and surmount the portal, sculpted by a Spanish artist and which mingles Spanish Romanesque art and Saintongeais art. Above the portal, frescoes are discernible.