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Saint-Benoît du Sault has been included in the one hundred "Most Beautiful Villages of France". Built on a granite spur, this medieval town still has many reminders of times when fortified walls and gate houses were needed for protection from invading enemies. The town was surrounded by a double line of ramparts. The first, the most ancient, protected the priory, the church and the fort, the second established in the XVth century, encircled the commercial part.   It is said that when St Benedictine monks established themselves there, they changed the name of the town into that of its owner, Saint-Benoît, the "Sault" was added, probably because of thick wood, saltus, which surrounded it.

1 Maison des Voyageurs.
2 Place de la Demi-Lune.
3 Maison de l'Argentier.
 4 Mairie.
5 Gymnase & Centre Culturel.
6 Salle Georges Brassens.
7 Bureau de Tourisme.
8. Collège Hervé Faye.
9 Gendarmerie.
10 Centre de Secours.
11.Usine SITRAM.
12 Quartier du Portugal.
13 Porte Fortifiée et Beffroi.
14 Eglise et prieuré.
15 Chaussée de l'Etang.

History of Saint-Benoît du Sault

The history of the foundation of the priory was made known by the chronicles of the benedictine monks assembled in "Miracula Sancti Benedicti".

If two dolmens near to Saint-Benoît du Sault attest to the ancientness of human presence, legend attributes its foundation, a thousand years before our era, to a soldier named Salix, coming from the antique City of Troy in Asia Minor. In immense forests this person lost the trace of his two companions Lemovix and Pictavix who founded Limoges and Poitiers. Salix was given shelter by some druids whom he dissuaded from human sacrifices and to whom he taught the art of building fortresses in cragged places. He gave his name to the town.

Twenty centuries later, in 974, some benedictine monks of the aera took refuge in Salis where they found a priory. From the Xth to the XVIIth century, the history of the priory and the new town of Saint-Benoît du Sault is made up of resistance to the possessive desires of feudal neighbours.

From the XVIIth century, the activity of artisans, paviour workers, of some prominent persons or scholors were referred to in texts which were to become reassembled.

During the Revolution, a tree of liberty was planted, young volunteers left to defend the Republic and the town took on the name of Mont-du-Sault.

Throughout the XIXth century, the inhabitants of Saint-Benoît du Sault deprived of new roads of communication which were being created, seemed to accept the changes of the regime : the Empire, the restoration of royalty, the Second Republic then again the Empire, up the point where masons who went to work each year in Paris, actively took part in the Commune of Paris in the spring of 1871.

Like all the communes of France, Saint-Benoît du Sault paid a heavy price in the war of 1914-18. During the second conflict, it was the center of a region rich in underground activities where arms of English origin were parachuted and distributed as far as Paris at its Liberation.

In 1963 the factory SITRAM was created and Saint-Benoît du Sault rediscovered its desire to modernise and to develop, at the same time preserving its original charm.

In the immediate proximity of Saint-Benoît du Sault

• The waterfalls of Aire aux Martes, the Valleys of the Portefeuille, Anglin and Abloux
• roman or XIIIth century churches, certain enhanced with fresques or altar pieces
• The feodal ruins and site of Brosse
• XVth to XIXth century castles
• The dolmens of Passebonneau and des Gorces

For more details please contact the Tourist Information Centre at Saint-Benoît du Sault

In less than half an hour :

• the valley of the Creuse, the village of Gargilesse, also "one of the most beautiful villages of France", the barrage of Eguzon, the lake of Chambon, the site of Crozant...

• the castles of the valley of the Bouzanne and Chateau Guillaume restored in the style of Viollet-le-Duc.

• The site and museum of prehistoric and gallo-roman antiquities of Argentomagus.

Contacts

·         Town Hall tel. 02 54 47 51 44, fax 02 54 47 59 19

·         Tourist Office tel. 02 54 47 62 90

Church Saint-Jean-Baptiste (12e s. ; 13e s. ; 15e s. ; 19e s.).

One of the most ancient monuments of the beginning of Roman Art. It dates from the year 1020. Its plan is still that of Roman basilicas. Its receptacle for baptism and its capitals are primitive and archaeologists consider it one of the sites of the elaboration of Roman Art.

Recently restored, its stained glass windows are a contemporary creation of Jean Mauret.

The doorway at the west and the church tower date from the end of the XIIIth century.

The priory.

At the extremity of a promontory of granite, it dominates the valley of the Portefeuille (river).

Founded towards 974, today it consists of XVth and XVIIIth buildings.

The barrage of the lake,

seen from the terrace of the church, in its present condition, dates from the XVIIIth century when it was considered to be "one of the most beautiful of the kingdom."

The town was surrounded by a double line of ramparts. The first, the most ancient, protected the priory, the church and the fort, the second established in the XVth century, encircled the commercial part.

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This page contains details on our French style self catering holiday cottages & gite accommodation  to rent in

Badecon-Le-Pin, Argenton-Sur-Creuse, Near Eguzon, Indre, Centre, Department 36, France

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