The 12th century church (the oldest), was raised in the 18th century when the bell tower was transformed into a beacon for navigation. It is known as "Le Vieux Clocher".
Saint-Pallais is a saint of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. He was in the 6th century, the ninth bishop of Saintes.
The history of the Romanesque church and the Old Bell Tower is perfectly summed up on the small information panel placed a few meters from the entrance: "The Romanesque church built under the name of Saint-Palais dates from the second half of the 12th century. At present, all that remains of this remarkable building are the choir, the apse, part of the bell tower and a section of the drip wall of the nave (in a construction, the drip wall is the wall carrying a gutter or a channel ending the roof slope and receiving the water as opposed to the gable wall).
"The Old Bell Tower" dominates the tombs of the old cemetery, one of the exits of which opens onto the square on the south side of the new church. This 12th century church is distinguished by its architectural sobriety, a refined style and forms of a very Cistercian elegance. Unfortunately, time and wars have largely amputated the building.
The octagonal bell tower is in its lower part authentically Romanesque: a semicircular bay adorned each of the faces, but only two of them have been preserved to the south and east. In order for the bell tower to serve as a landmark, a first raising of more than 2 meters was carried out in the first half of the 17th century. A second, a few years later, gave it its current height. Around 1770, a timber spire was added.
The apse, vaulted in a cul-de-four is decorated with five basket-handle arcades resting on engaged columns. 3 bays with deep embrasure and framed by two small columns with bare capitals, provide lighting. A chamfered cord goes around the choir and the apse and delimits the vaults of the load-bearing walls.
The climb to the top of the bell tower is recommended to enjoy a superb panorama of the Gironde estuary, the ocean, the Cordouan lighthouse, the residential areas of Saint-Palais, the national forest and the surrounding countryside.