Church of Notre Dame

Church of Notre Dame

The church of Notre Dame can be seen from Place Henri IV, via Rue de l’Ecu de France and Rue Kerlouet, a Grand Connétable lieutenant

A fortified church

The church, built to a Latin-cross plan and with an 11th-century steeple, was symbolically fortified in the 15th century, during the Hundred Years war, with the addition of two towers with false machicolations. They are still visible from the small square. The rib-vaulted nave towers over a chancel with a flat apse. The north and south transepts are home to vestiges from other local religious edifices: the altar of the Posay church built near the casino and burnt down at the end of the 19th century; and two retables from the Cistercian Merci Dieu abbey which can still be seen, four kilometres from La Roche-Posay on the road to Vic-sur-Gartempe. The stained-glass windows destroyed during violent combat in June 1940 were replaced by a more modern version, made by master glassmaker Jacques Le Chevallierin in 1948 and 1949,

The remains of a mill, sign of the town's medieval activity, can be seen from the ramparts of the small Square de l'Abbé Brandt, overlooking the Creuse. As you leave, don't forget to take a look at the rogue-themed sculptured corbel on the corner of one of the towers.