Attractions and Places To See around Valennes - Top 8

This church contains 14th century wall paintings. These paintings were discovered in 1895. They formerly occupied the entire width of the western wall of the nave. The central part was destroyed following the renovation of the door. The left side represented paradise. Of the bust of Christ, in a trilobed medallion, which occupied the center, there remains only a fragment of the cruciform halo. The rest of the composition is divided into rectangular compartments, each enclosing, in the surviving part, a figure of a crowned chosen one. On the right, hell is represented by a cauldron in which several characters are immersed, including a pope, a bishop, a monk, a king, a queen. Above, a woman with her legs apart. On the right, an enormous horned demon sticks out its tongue. On the left, another carries a basket filled with the damned and is about to plunge a woman into the cauldron. Construction periods: 14th century

The church has a very pretty Renaissance-style choir entrance. Certain stained glass windows, the woodwork of the choir, the altarpieces and the font are classified. The current church, rectangular in plan, replaced a 12th century building. The flat bedside and the north wall, equipped with Romanesque windows and slightly projecting buttresses, date from this period. It was rebuilt and probably enlarged in the first half of the 16th century. It was then covered with beautiful paneling, the beams of which bear the arms of the Vove, lords of Saint-Agil. The church is also flanked to the south by a seignorial chapel of two bays opening onto the nave with two molded semi-circular arches: its ribbed vaults, with eight ribs leading to the four peaks of a central diamond, are each decorated with four sculpted pendant keys, one of which also bears the arms of the Vove; the date 1547 can be read on its door. The church is currently preceded by a bell tower built in 1886 by Mr. Travaillard, an architect in Saint-Calais. A window to the south of the choir has preserved a partly restored 16th century stained glass window, representing Saint-Agil and Saint-Fiacre, and one of the windows of the seigneurial chapel has another, representing the Nativity, the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi; the other window of this chapel has a modern stained glass window retaining some old fragments in the speckles. The choir was decorated with woodwork including an entrance arcade surmounted by a crucifix, stalls, a communion table and an altarpiece, the latter dated 1734. We can also point out a font decorated with balusters and of a skull (1552), the poetic epitaph of Catherine-Geneviève de Verthamont (1740), a painting representing a martyr (17th century), a Louis XV console and a Venetian glass chandelier.”

Around 1240, the Benedictines, who had a priory within the walls of the castle of Mondoubleau, having had to abandon it, settled near Choue. Of the buildings, only the chapel remains. The western gable is pierced with a double archivolt door in third point and projecting cord, chamfered. Above, a bay was flanked by two six-lobed oculi. On the western part of the southern gutter wall, a door gave access to a small room which could have been the lower room of a square tower, perhaps a bell tower. Inside, the walls were plastered.

The Romanesque nave is the oldest part of the church. The choir has a stone vault with ribbed ribs, divided into two bays, in the upper part of the main altar. The stained glass window is from the beginning of the 16th century, it represents the marriage, in 1505, of Marie de Melun and John of Bruges with, behind the two figures, Saint John and the Virgin. The Gothic style sink dates from the 16th century, with a main shelf hollowed out by two round bowls. On the sides are two columns with small carved capitals. In 1625, addition of a side nave. In the 19th century, construction of the castle chapel and the sacristy, then modification of the choir. In 1505 John of Bruges had the choir rebuilt for his wedding. The Notre-Dame de l'Assomption church dates from various periods. The church was built in the 15th and 16th centuries. Originally dependent on the bishopric of Chartres, the parish of Montmirail was only attached to the bishopric of Le Mans in 1801.

The castle of Montmirail is a striking example of the castles of the region. The good news is that you can stay there if you wish, as the castle is now open to the public as a hotel. Make it a weekend run or just appreciate its beauty as you pass by.

with water point and wc nearby! by bike it's always practical!