La Clastre chapel

3 points of interest

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  Flora

  Holm oak

  The holm oak is very present in Cévenol vegetation. It is typical of the Mediterranean slopes of the Cévennes up to 500 m in altitude. The species is well adapted to dry environments due to its small, pointed, glossy leaves. Farmed holm oak groves appear as inextricable thickets where heather and strawberry trees predominate. Their fauna typically includes the Sardinian and Western Orphean warblers. You might also spot the largest lizard species in France, the ocellated lizard.

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  La Clastre chapel

  In the hamlet of La Clastre, which was a cloister and is now concealed by vegetation, you can see an old well, whose rim is polished from use. The chapel was first mentioned in the 1156 papal bull by Pope Adrian IV. It remained in good condition until 1622, when it was seriously damaged by the troops of the Duke of Rohan. In 1688, a chapel was rebuilt on the ruins, which has not been modified since. A very simple Romanesque building, it has retained two arrow-slit embrasures from the 12th century. The Gard local government has financed the internal and external renovation works.

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  Roquedur

  Until the 13th century, the territory of Roquedur seems to have been a stronghold and an important trade and commerce site belonging to the powerful barony of Hierle, which was part of the Bermond family of Anduze and Sauve. Alongside Montdardier, Esparon and Vissec, Roquedur had one of the most substantial castles in the Cévenol portion of the barony. During the Albigensian (Cathar) Crusade, Pierre VII de Bermond was defeated and placed under house arrest at Roquedur (1240). The fortress was dismantled by Houdard de Villiers. In April 1243, the King of France pardoned Pierre VII, and his barony was returned to him, albeit stripped of much of its land and with the obligation to raze the walls and towers of local fortresses. Pierre VII decided to leave Roquedur and establish the seat of the barony of Hierle “in his castle and town of Aulas”.
  (excerpt from the Roquedur leaflet, publ. by the tourism office Cévennes Méridionales – Pays Viganais)