Aubeterre-sur-Dronne

The church of Saint-Jean at Aubeterre is monolithic, cut out of the limestone cliff rather than built: the nave is about twenty-seven metres long and twenty high, carved downward and inward from the twelfth century, probably to house a relic of the Holy Sepulchre brought back from crusade. A rock-hewn reliquary stands in the middle, a gallery runs around the walls partway up, and graves cut into the floor were rediscovered under later fill. It was used as a saltpetre workshop and then a cemetery before being recognised. The village above is white stone with steep lanes, and the Dronne runs below.

History

There has been a lordship of Aubeterre since the 11th century, its first known lord Géraud, and in the 12th century the lords built a castle on the white chalk cliffs above the monolithic church of Saint-Jean. The viscounty passed through several families, the Raymonds holding it through the 14th century; in the Hundred Years' War the Earl of Derby took the village in September 1346, and between 1356 and 1412 the lordship changed hands seven times between the English and the French. Aubeterre then remained with the Bouchard family for two centuries, through the Wars of Religion, until it passed by marriage in 1597 to François d'Esparbes de Lussan, a faithful companion of Henri IV (Wikipedia, Aubeterre-sur-Dronne).

Highlights

• The monolithic nave - a church cut twenty metres down into the rock.
• The rock reliquary - a hewn shrine standing in the middle of the space.
• The upper gallery - a walkway carved around the walls partway up.
• The floor graves - burial pits cut into the rock floor.

When to go

April to October; the church opens year-round with reduced winter hours. It is cool inside whatever the season. The village is quiet outside summer weekends.

Before you go

The interior is bare rock with almost no decoration; the impression is scale rather than ornament. The village is steep. Parking is outside the centre.

Nearby

Angouleme lies north; Brantome is southeast.