Ancienne église Saint-Patrice

English translation

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History

This former parish church, which subsequently served as a sheep shed, was originally the church of the priory around which the town of Saint-Patrice was founded (before 1032, by Archambault) and which was dependent on the abbey of Noyers. The building occupies a magnificent site overlooking the Loire. It was enlarged over the centuries: a rectangular nave (14.72 m x 8.10 m), built in small irregular ashlar and not vaulted, constitutes the oldest part. Four windows open in the upper part, splayed towards the interior, and some of the voussoirs bear false joints. At the beginning of the 12th century, a square choir in medium ashlar was built, substantially square in plan, which has preserved on the north a walled door, now half buried, surmounted by a lintel and decoration in reticulated ashlar. An opening, also presenting false joints, opens in each gutter wall. A porch tower was built to the west in the 13th century (the ogive gave way to a water reservoir for the castle). The enlargement of the choir in the 15th century would have been financed by Louis XI. Traces of mural painting (Saint George and the dragon) were identified in 1968, during a restoration. But the renders deemed too damaged were removed and scarcely anything remains. In the last century, the church was sold by the municipality to the comte de Chabrol to finance the construction of a new neo-gothic parish church (1849) in the centre of the town. A castle was built on the site of the former priory-rectory, as well as a new chapel (of the Miraculous Thorn of Saint-Patrice), situated lower on the hillside.