Wait long enough… and you shall find

Text on an information panel in Cluny

Long time ago I read on an information panel somewhere in Cluny that, when demolishing a number of mediaeval houses on the Petite Place du Marché between 1860 and 1866, several claire-voies of those houses were saved and are on display in Musée Ochier in Cluny. Recently another one was discovered in the façade of the château in Burnand (private property, partially rented out as a B&B).

Château de Burnand

In 2012 we asked the Dutch caretaker of the château (the owners lived at the time on Bali) if we could have a look at the building. However, she was very busy at the time, and asked us to give her a call later that year. When we bumped into her some month later in Cluny she told us that the owners were divorced, that she had been sacked more or less on the spot, and that one of the owners would move to France and take care of the château herself.

Claire-voie - Burnand

That was the end of our potential visit to the château, so we thought. However, the Office de Tourisme in Saint-Gengoux regularly organises excursions along the various B&B's in the area, so maybe that could be our next option. Unfortunately, when Burnand was on the program we were not able to make it. Recently we saw another chance: there was going to be a free concert at the château, which gave us a chance to see this (Gothic) claire-voie from Cluny on the pretext of a cultural outing.

Capitals - Burnand

And we found it. The outside of the château is worth a visit anyway. It is very picturesquely located on the edge of Burnand, a village which hosts an interesting Romanesque church. I can be very brief about the concert: after two minutes we had had enough. I rather pay an entrance fee for a professional group of musicians than listening for over an hour to a dress rehearsal of some not (yet) very good amateurs. That is a privilege I happily grant their family and friends!

Concert - château de Burnand

Click here for the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle.

Looking for Mr. Plumber

We are organising all sort of things for people owning a second house, and one of the most popular requests is whether we can organise a plumber, certainly after a long and severe frost period, when water pipes or toilet bowls have been burst.

The chapel in Saint-Martin-de-Croix

The plumber we are normally using lived in Bonnay, and one day, when we needed him and he did not pick up his phone, we decided to look him up personally. When we arrived at his house, it looked like he had moved out. His shutters were closed, his letterbox was open and hung half demolished of the wall, in a word, it looked like a wreck. We went to the only bar in Bonnay, and found out that our Monsieur K. had moved to Burnand. Well, villages are small (so we thought), hence it could not be difficult to find our plumber there.
Well, uhmmm, no. After having inspected all letterboxes in Burnand, there was still no trace of Monsieur K.

De bell-gable of the chapel in Saint-Martin-de-Croix

So we went back to MI5 in Bonnay, and the pub owner gave us Monsieur K.'s new telephone number. We also found out that Monsieur K. had not moved to Burnand itself, but to a little hamlet called Saint-Martin-de-Croix. Monsieur K. explained where his house was, and the next day we went over to Saint-Martin-de-Croix to meet up with him.
His house was on the main street, not far from the local chapel, and after having arranged for a visit to one of our clients we nipped into the chapel. It resembled very much the one in the previous blog, rectangular in plan, simple, and with a bell tower à la Provence. On le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne the patron saint of the church is not mentioned, hence unknown.
I would propose to appoint one, e.g. Sint-Guilielmus or Sint-Vincentius. They are in any case the patron saints of plumbers....

For some more photos of the chapel, click here.

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Chapel (most likely Saint-Martin) in Saint-Martin-de-Croix (Burnand), 12th century, 2*

For our own website, click here.

Interior of the chapel in Saint-Martin-de-Croix