Église Saint-Didier et ancien prieuré

English translation

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History

Remains of an old priory forming a right angle between the branches of which is a courtyard whose fourth side, to the north, is formed by the old priory church. The church is Romanesque and appears to date to the 11th century. It comprises a nave of three bays with aisles, and a circular apse flanked by three radiating chapels of which that at the centre is square. The third bay is square and that of the corresponding aisles is higher than the others, formerly serving to buttress the bell tower which stood at the crossing. The apse, vaulted in apse vault, is wider than the nave. The latter was raised in the 16th century to be fortified. Watch-turrets still bear witness to this on the north-west buttress. Certain parts of the priory have disappeared, others have been modified, but there remain numerous traces of the original dispositions (Romanesque capitals, room vaulted with groin vault, another vaulted in barrel vault, two spiral staircases...). All these buildings were crowned by a timber-framing wall-walk that may date to the 15th century, and which surmounted a machicolation whose corbels are formed of superposed pieces of wood extending the high floor of the storey below. From the inside, the wall-walk was closed by a thin partition in timber framing, regularly pierced with wooden doors and windows with stained glass.