And now for something completely different!

Whenever I cycle down the Voie Verte from Chazelle to Cluny (formerly a railway, now a cycle track), somewhere half way I pass by a rather strange building.

The former church of Cotte (Cortambert)

Just past the former station of Massilly lies an old farm, and half of the farmhouse seems to be an old church. The church-like building appears to have been the church of Cotte, a hamlet belonging to the commune of Cortambert. The pointer on the map points to the restaurant "Au Pont de Cotte"; the church itself lies approx 200 m to the east, on the other side of the old railway.
This was the church that once was home to the baptismal font in the chapel of Collonges (see the previous blog), although I did not know that at the time.
When I told Eduard about this church, he acknowledged having heard about it, although he did not have pictures of it. We are again talking ancient history, because now one can find my pictures on this page.
A similar building can be found only a stone throw away from our house.

The former chapel of Coureau (Bray)

This farm lies approx. 800 m south of the pointer (La Tuilerie de Chazelle). The chapel is built against a farm house, the ferme de Coureau, and it is part of the village of Bray. We found out about this chapel through one of our campers who did a walk in the vicinity, and accidentally stumbled upon it.

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Former church (storage space) Saint-Laurent in Cotte (Lournand), 11th century, 3*
Former chapel (storage space) Saint-Jean-du-Bois in Ferme Coureau (Bray), ?th century, 0*

For our own website, click here.

The former chapel of Coureau (Bray)

Romanesque or not, that is the question

The last signpost to something Romanesque, along the road between Chazelle and Cluny, refers to “Collonges Chapelle Romane”.
This chapel is a cute little one, in the hamlet of Collonges (commune of Lournand). Inside the chapel there are some drawings or paintings made by Michel Bouillot (1929-2007), a writer and well known artist who has made pen drawings of almost each stone in every Burgundian house in our department.

The chapel in Collonges

I seem to remember that there was no reference to this chapel on le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne, but I cannot reproduce the correspondance between Eduard and myself on this subject. I think that I sent him some pictures of this chapel, and that his answer was that he could not find anything Romanesque on the photographs, and hence that the chapel did not qualify for an entry on his site; it was simply not a Romanesque chapel.
However, when I sent him another photograph of an information panel I had found in the church, where it was explained that the baptismal font in the chapel originally came from the Romanesque church in Cotte (in the commune of Cortambert), he changed his mind. As of then Collonges is mentioned on his site, albeit in the category 1 or 2 stars.
Lournand appears to have more to offer then the church, chapel and castle from the previous blog!

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Chapel Saint-Laurent in Collonges (Lournand) 11th century, 0*

For our own website, click here.

The baptismal font from Cotte

A Comedy of Errors

Between Chazelle and Cluny there are three different road signs, all three referring to something Romanesque. One of those signs refers to the village of Lournand.

the church of Lournand

After the quest for the Romanesque church of Massilly (see the previous blog) I decided that I could crack this one as well. Both churches, that of Massilly as wel as that of Lournand look from a distance very similar, and could have been built, as far as I could guess, in roughly the same period. On le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne I found under the 1 or 2 star churches for Lournand a former church Saint-Hubert, no pictures available.
The pictures item could be solved easily. On a fine day we drove into Lournand. The church is prominently present, and inside the church, which was obviously still in use, I found a pamphlet telling something about the history of the church. The church had been completely rebuilt in the 19th century (which confirmed my guess), but the crossing, i.e. the base of the bell tower, was the only remaining part of the original, 11th century Romanesque church. The plot thickened even further, because not only was this NOT a former church, it was also dedicated to Sainte-Marie, not to Saint-Hubert.

The cupola with trompes, church of Lournand

One of my questions to Eduard concerned the completeness of his site. He answered thus:

"Completeness is difficult to achieve, but certainly my goal. All acknowledged Romanesque churches of the calibre of Chazelle (hence 3 stars or more) are mentioned on my site. The lists of 1 or 2 star churches are most likely not 100 % complete (a church containing a Romanesque part of a wall already qualifies for an entry), but are certainly as complete as possible."

Eduard was obviously not aware of this church, since it certainly contained something Romanesque.
I had all of a sudden a new riddle to solve: where was the former church Saint-Hubert? Knowing Eduard a bit better by now I hoped to be able to crack this mystery soon. However, the Lournand story was not over yet. When we left the church we saw a vague acquaintance sitting on a balcony of the house opposite the church. We knew she lived in Lournand, but we never knew where. She asked us in, and after some chitchat she told us that the other side of her house had a beautiful view on the château. A château in Lournand? Never heard of!

The castle of Lournand

And indeed, one of her rooms had a nice view, it looked out over a ruin, possibly of an old fortress. However, it could also have been the remains of an old factory. What we saw was a very long bit of wall from which 9 pieces of walls were protruding like raised fingers.
After having said goodbye, we decided to leave the village via a different road. We were quite surprised to find all of a sudden a long part of a defence wall on the road side, with at a certain point a semicircular part of wall which well could have been a defence tower.
As soon as we reached home I sent Eduard an email wit questions concerning the Sainte-Marie of Lournand and the Saint-Hubert.
The answer came almost instantaneously with a photograph of the chapel Saint-Hubert; that turned out to be the piece of wall I had assumed to be a tower.
 Looking back now, this seemed to be a comedy of errors. I thought Eduard had made a mistake in the name of the church, and Eduard thought that Lournand church had nothing Romanesque.
Who will maintain, after reading this story, that coincidence does not exist?

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Church Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption in Lournand, 11th century, 0*
Former chapel (ruin) Saint-Hubert in Lournand, ?th century, 0*
Castle (ruin) of Lourdon in Lournand, 11th century, 0*

For our own website click here.

Chapel Saint-Hubert in Lournand