サン・ヒレール・ド・ヴィルフランシュのおすすめライド

ラ・バインのサイト、シャニエールにあるものは、現在の製粉所よりもはるかに古いものです。 14世紀：最初の製粉所の証拠 1310年の文書には、ラ・バインに布地用の製粉所があったことが記されています。これらは川床に打ち込まれた杭の上に建てられ、特に織物を叩くために使用されていました。 これらの製粉所は当時、サントの司教座聖堂参事会に属していました。数年前にラ・マルシュ伯爵によって破壊されていました。 1313年、参事会は2つの製粉所、堰、漁場の再建許可を得ました。 17世紀：コルベールの王立製粉所 ラ・バインが大きな重要性を帯びたのは17世紀です。 5つの小麦製粉所の複合施設が、航行には使用されていなかったシャラント川の支流に再建されました。 1630年頃、製粉所はシャルルとジャック・デュヴァル兄弟が所有していました。彼らは実質的な所有権を持っていましたが、シャニエールの領地はサント・ピエール大聖堂の参事会に属していました。 その後、ルイ14世の財務長官であり海軍大臣であったジャン＝バティスト・コルベールが登場します。 1670年頃、コルベールは生産能力を大幅に向上させるために製粉所を改修・拡張しました。新しい複合施設は7つの水路を持ち、当時この地域で最も強力な製粉所の一つとなりました。 なぜコルベールはラ・バインに興味を持ったのか？ その理由は、ロシュフォールの海軍工廠の設立と発展に直接関係していました。 製粉所は主に、王立海軍の船員の食料となる小麦と大麦の粉を生産していました。 穀物はシャラント川をガバル（平底船）に乗って到着しました。製粉所に荷を降ろした後、ガバルは特にロシュフォール向けの小麦粉を積んで出発しました。 したがって、ラ・バインの製粉所は、シャラント川とロシュフォールを中心に組織された、真の王立産業および物流システムの一部でした。 19世紀：段階的な変革 19世紀には、製粉業が続けられました。 古い製粉所は徐々に真の工業施設へと変貌しました。1845年には、5人の異なる製粉業者によってこの場所が操業されていました。 1897年以降、ラルディ氏によって徐々に複合施設が統合され、彼は設備を近代化し、機械を導入しました。その後、彼の息子であるレミー・ラルディが後を継ぎました。 20世紀：製粉工場 1930年代には、製粉所は真の工業製粉工場になっていました。 その能力は1日あたり約50クインタール（約2.5トン）の小麦に達しました。 1936年には、直径約5メートルの複数の水車によって水力が供給されていました。総取水量は約4メートル、落差は1.50メートルでした。 設備には特に以下が含まれていました： ダブル粉砕機2基； ダブルコンバーター1基； 一対の石臼； プランシフター1基； ふるい分け機5基。 製粉業は最終的に20世紀半ばに停止しました。資料によると、製粉工場か製粉業の完全な消滅かによって、産業活動の停止は1940年から1960年の間とされています。 今日 建物は保存され、レストランに改装されましたが、特に水車や古い機械の一部など、産業時代の顕著な要素は保持されています。 ラ・バイン製粉所は現在、シャラント川沿いのシャニエール、コルベール通り14番地、17610にあります。 特に興味深い点 製粉所、ダム、閘門は、歴史的に切り離せない複合体を形成しています。ただし、現在のダムは近代的な改修を受けています。2012年の県令により、特にラ・バイン製粉所の水力構造物はクラスDのダムに分類されています。

Courcoury is a natural island surrounded by the Charente and Seugne rivers, giving it a unique landscape setting between marshes and waterways, conducive to biodiversity and outdoor activities. It is also the only village in Charente-Maritime to have been awarded 4 stars by the "Villes et villages étoilés" label, recognizing its efforts to reduce light pollution through intelligent and environmentally friendly public lighting.

It is an absolutely beautiful village.

The Abbaye-aux-Dames is built around the church of Sainte-Marie, built in the twelfth century. Famous for its facade and its characteristic "pinecone" bell tower, it is one of the emblematic monuments of Saintonge's Romanesque art. After several wars and fires, the place was restored in the 1970s and 1980s and is now a hotel. When you walk through the long corridors you feel like you have been transported back to the time when the abbey was still alive.

A former Benedictine abbey created in 1047, Abbaye-aux-Dames was the first women's monastery in Saintonge. These powerful women were nuns, that is to say, nuns living cloistered and having taken a vow of piety, occupying their lives in contemplation. They carried the crosier, in other words the pastoral staff of a bishop, and minted coins. Richly endowed, the abbey carried its influence well beyond the borders of the county and over time it became one of the most powerful women's monasteries in all of South-West France. With up to a hundred nuns at its peak, it was entrusted with the mission of instructing young girls, often from the French nobility, and counted among its most illustrious residents the future Marquise de Montespan, favorite of Louis XIV. The Abbaye-aux-Dames is structured around the Sainte-Marie church, built in the 12th century, famous for its facade and its characteristic “pine cone” bell tower. The premises were restored during the 1970s and 1980s and now house a Cité de la musique in which the Saintes Festival dedicated to classical music takes place each year. You can also stay in a wing of the building, the cells having been converted into hotel rooms, and leave your bike in a secure room.

The Garde-Épée dolmen is classified as a historic monument. It is made up of five slabs which delimit the room and slabs which cover it. The dolmen is five meters long and more than two meters high.

The Santons people occupied Saintonge during the Gallic era. The Romans conquered the region and settled on the banks of the Charente. The town of Saintes (then designated Mediolanum), located at the western end of the Via Agrippa which linked Lyon (capital of the Three Gauls) to the Atlantic coast, quickly became monumental. At the time of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), the city probably became the capital of the province of Greater Aquitaine (Aquitania). This then extended from the Loire to the Pyrenees. Mediolanum is endowed with important public monuments: the amphitheater, the arch of Germanicus, the thermal baths and the aqueduct are still partially visible today. At the time of its peak (end of the 1st century – beginning of the 2nd century), the city must have had several thousand inhabitants. The amphitheater of Mediolanum is one of the earliest in Gaul. It is estimated that its construction began during the reign of Tiberius (14 – 37 AD), and was completed during the reign of Claudius (41 – 54 AD). Like many amphitheaters of the Roman Empire, that of Saintes was located on the outskirts of the ancient city in a chosen and developed site: the “vallon des Arènes”. Thanks to a favorable topography, the builders were relieved of part of their work, the amphitheater resting on the slope of the valley. This elliptical monument, with imposing dimensions (126 meters long and 102 meters wide), made it possible to accommodate several thousand spectators around bloody and violent representations such as gladiator fights (munera) or animal hunts (venationes ). In the 3rd century, the city declined and was entrenched within an impressive rampart, built from the remains of public and funerary monuments from previous decades. The amphitheater is then no longer used. Since the Middle Ages, it has been used, among other things, as a stone quarry. It was classified as a Historic Monument in 1840. It was from this moment that it was gradually restored. Today, despite the disappearance of the superstructures, the remains provide a faithful image of what this monument could have been at the time of its splendor. The site welcomes visitors all year round. Certain objects found during various excavations in the amphitheater district are visible at the archaeological museum.

Located on a rocky spur overlooking the Charente, Taillebourg has one of the oldest castles in the province of Saintonge. It was also one of the most important in the region in the Middle Ages. This stronghold will allow the city to assert its power and prosper thanks to its port and control of trade throughout the Middle Ages. According to a chronicler, the Château de Taillebourg hosted the wedding night of Louis, future king of France under the name Louis VII, with Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. Louis IX (future Saint Louis) made the castle his fortress to launch the attack against the King of England, Henry III. This victorious battle of July 21, 1242 became famous and was represented several centuries later by Delacroix, whose painting can be seen in the Battles gallery at the Palace of Versailles. The castle which had endured all the sieges during the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion was taken and destroyed during the Fronde in 1652. During the Revolution, it was sold in lots as national property. Having suffered from lack of maintenance, the building was the victim of a fire in 1822 and was largely destroyed. All that remains now are the ruins with the ramparts and a tower standing like an emaciated being. It now houses a park which is a haven of peace. To access it from the banks of the Charente, you have to take a small detour through the town.