The best road cycling routes around Crucey-Villages

A lovely castle when leaving the Senonches forest in a very cute village.

In Grison stone

Located 5 km northeast of La Ferté-Vidame, the Saint-Denis de Morvilliers church stands in the very center of the village. The rectory was the abbot of Saint-Père de Chartres, whose monks owned the church from the beginning of the 12th century. Two charters, dated 1126 and 1127, attest to this. This building comprises a single nave ending in a semicircular chevet. A timber-framed bell tower has crowned the western part of the roof since the 18th century. The west portal through which one enters this building is made of gray stone, unfortunately cemented with a decoration of false stones. The south wall is pierced by five narrow bays, probably from the 12th century. Four windows were installed in the 15th century on the north facade. A fifth, now blocked, was pierced in the apse at the same time. Inside, despite alterations, the church retains an exposed rafter frame forming a medieval truss. Curiously independent of the church structure, it rests on two rows of posts along the drip walls. The vault is paneled. The presence of frescoes could be detected under the plasterwork of the north wall. For the restoration of the apse's frame and roof, the Sauvegarde de l'Art Français (French Art Protection Agency) awarded a grant of €16,769 in 2001.

very beautiful section of greenway in very good condition and shaded thanks to a beautiful forest.

Placed under the patronage of Saint-Lubin, bishop of Chartres in the 6th century, the church of Prudemanche has experienced many vicissitudes over the centuries. Ruined during the English invasions and then devastated by the Protestants, the current building is said to be the third construction, undertaken at the dawn of the 17th century. Its style, very simple, is even said to have been deliberate so as not to offend the austerity of a part of the population who remained Calvinist. Rectangular in plan, the nave is extended by a choir with a flat chevet of the same width. To the northeast of the church, a sacristy has been added, accessible by a side door of the choir. The nave is pierced with semicircular bays probably coming from the original Romanesque building. The raftered nave frame supporting the truss is paneled. The walls are made up of a wooden frame with flint masonry infill mounted with lime mortar. The façades and the chevet are supported by powerful buttresses of grison. According to a drawing from 1852, the initial portal to the west had a double bay occupying the width of this arch. The roof is made of old flat tiles, while the bell tower with a quadrangular base is covered in slate. The furniture consists of a single altar, a bench, a pulpit, a glory beam and two statues remaining from the old altarpiece of the 15th century. On the north side of the nave, wall paintings appear under the 19th century rendering. For the consolidation of the masonry of the choir, the repair of the roof and the framework, the Sauvegarde de l’Art Français granted, in 1997, a grant of 15,000 F.

small church and its cemetery

The parish of La Saucelle probably developed in the second half of the 12th century, thanks to its barns and mills. In the commune, the places called Le Temple and La Commanderie still today preserve the memory that these places belonged to the Knights who worked on the clearing of the land. The construction of the essential part dates back to the Romanesque period, the choir and its semi-circular chevet were built in the 12th century. The Sainte-Anne church is located in the village of La Saucelle, whose territory is located on the edge of the Perche Regional Natural Park.

The castle of Senonches. You will find an information point inside.