Ruins on a ridge

Tucked away on a ridge not far from Avon-les-Roches is a lieu-dit called Les Roches Tranchelion. Not that we knew this at the time.

We were on the D21 coming from Chinon and heading towards the very pretty village of Crissay-sur-Manse when we spotted, away in the distance, what looked like the tip of a ruin on a ridge. On a whim we took the next wee road which branched off to the left and which seemed to head in the right direction. With a few meanders it duly took us to the brow of a hill which produced the following panorama:

Les Roches Tranchelion

There were not one but two ruins on the ridge, and it turned out both ruins had interesting stories to tell! On the right is the collegiate church of Sainte-Marie-des-Roches-Tranchelion and on the left - harder to see- is what little remans of the Chateau des Roches. The vista reminded us of the way you can almost "trip over" ruined abbeys such as Rievaulx in Yorkshire.

We dropped down into the little valley below the ruins and apart from a sign telling us that this was Les Roches Tranchelion and a small wooden randonnée signpost saying 'eglise' there was no information to be had. Back home we did some digging....

The 'Collégiale Sainte-Marie-des-Roches-Tranchelion', to give it its proper name, was built in 1524 for a college of 5 canons by one Lancelot de La Touche, 'Panetier du Roi' or pantler to the King. This was the court officer in charge of the supplies of bread and the pantry, although by this time the office would have probably been largely ceremonial with more menial officials taking on the actual tasks. He was the seigneur of the Chateau des Roches at the time.

Seemingly, the 'collegiale' is one a the few examples which remain in the Touraine of Renaissance religious architecture. Others include la chapelle de Champigny-sur-Veude, Rigny-Ussé and the church at Montrésor, which has some lovely stained glass windows.

Collegiale Sainte-Marie-des-Roches-Tranchelion

The 'collegiale' has huge windows which are typical of the Flamboyant style [a late form of medieval gothic architecture] which, when they were filled with their original glass, would have allowed a kaleidoscope of light and colour to enter the building. The west front also clearly shows elements such as columns and roundels which are typical of the Renaissance.***
The 'collegiale' survived up to the Revolution and, though then empty, remained intact for some time afterwards, but by 1855 the church was in ruins.

According to a 19th century antiquarian source there is a legend associated with the 'collegiale'. History records that in 1559 King Henri II held a jousting tournament in the Place des Vosges, Paris to celebrate the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. Henri II's opponent in the tournament was Gabriel de Montgomery, captain of his Scottish Guard. Unfortunately during the encounter Gabriel fatally wounded the king. The legend has it that Gabriel de Montgomery, in panic at what had occured, fled to Les Roches Tranchelion.The basis for this legend is the fact that Gabriel was married to Isabeau de La Touche, daughter of the same Lancelot de La Touche who built the 'collegiale'. The legend then goes on to suggest that it was this tragedy of involuntary regicide by his son-in-law that caused Lancelot to sell the chateau later in the same year [1559].

Ruins of Chateau des Roches

The chateau is older. It was built by Guillaume de Tranchelion in 1420. He was the Seigneur de Palluau. Ken, on his blog Living the life in Saint-Aignan has written about Palluau-sur-Indre. Guillaume de Tranchelion was quite a 'big cheese' at court; so much so that two kings, Charles VII and Louis XI, are known to have sojourned at the Chateau des Roches between 1449 and 1461. It was convenient stop on the way to/from Chinon.

King Charles VII by Jean Fouquet - not a pretty boy!

In 1449 King Charles VII [he, whose reign is so linked with Joan of Arc] summoned his 'Conseil du Royaume' [great coucil] to convene at the Chateau des Roches. It was at this council that the decision was taken to re-start the war against the English with the aim of finally driving them out of their remainng French holdings and by 1453 the English had lost all their French territory with the exception of the Pale of Calais. However, despite being such a 'big player' in the second half of the 15th century it seems that the castle had already fallen into a ruinous state by the late 17th, well before the Revolution.

What a lot of history for two relatively little bits of ruin on a ridge!

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***If you'd like to see more photos of the 'collegiale' go to the Avon Patrimoine blog [in French] set up by an association of Avon-les-Roches inhabitants.