The best traffic-free bike rides around Courville-Sur-Eure

Of Romanesque origin, the church, surrounded by a cemetery, has a curious bell tower supported by machicolations and uprights of sandstone, making it one of the most unique in the region. Perhaps it was originally a bell gable, later augmented by a platform supported by these machicolations? In front of the entrance, a small building called a "caquetoire" (a small meeting place) allows the faithful to gather and converse. Inside the church, the furnishings date from the 18th and 19th centuries: a marble high altar and its gray-painted wooden altarpiece (18th century) – a painted wooden altarpiece of St. Joseph (late 18th or early 19th century) an altarpiece for the altar of the Virgin Mary (19th century) a baptismal font in red-veined marble (19th century) a waxed wooden pew (18th century) a waxed wooden choir stall upholstered in velvet paintings: the Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Octave Hauser (1839) and the Annunciation (18th century) The stained-glass windows date from 1874. The church and the eclipse A bit of history: The parish, established in the 13th century, was part of the deanery of Courville. The church's patron saint, Luperche or Luperchius, gave his name to the village. We must go back to the 4th century to find the first trace of this saint: At that time, Dacius, governor of the part of Spain that included Catalonia, Aragon, and the Kingdom of Valencia, was one of the most cruel ministers of persecution. Incited by the emperors Diocletian and Maximilian, he had eighteen confessors of Jesus Christ executed in the city of Zaragoza. In their honor, the poet Prudentius wrote hymns, and among these confessors, a certain martyr named Luperche became the patron saint of our church.

Superb castle in the Perche!

superb car-free road

Unfortunately, the church was not accessible when I visited (mid-September 2024). You could only look in through a gate and the dance of death depictions on the left side were not really visible. In front of them were transparencies with skeleton drawings. Maybe those were the depictions...

Of course there is the castle but the rest of the village is really worth a stop (church, wash house, half-timbered house, etc.)

The Saint-Martin church of La Croix-du-Perche, composed of a single nave without aisles, dates from the 12th century. At this date, the church is the chapel of a priory founded around 1250 by the Abbey of the Holy Trinity of Tiron. The church only became a parish when the monks left, towards the end of the 16th century. The monument is remarkable for its 16th century framework, entirely decorated with paintings dated 1537. The building was classified as a historic monument in 1934.

Very beautiful church and the public toilets next to it are perfect, even for filling water bottles too large for the classic sinks.

This country church stands out for its pretty little water pump on the side, as well as its cemetery where we find the grave of a Canadian aviator who died during the Second World War.