The best traffic-free bike rides around Ver-Lès-Chartres

very nice pond to rest

This small rural building has a cemetery or churchyard cross dated 1730 as well as an old brotherhood bell linked to Saint Nicholas

Its origin would date back to the 10th century, a time when it was only a chapel dedicated to St Thibaut-des-Vignes. It is unknown when and why Saint-Thibault became Saint-Julien. The inhabitants of Coudray then gathered in the priory church of Saint-Martin-au-Val. It was only towards the end of the 14th century that Saint-Julien du Coudray was established as a parish. The church is "a building 26 m long and 8 m wide, made of millstone grit and flint masonry, with a rounded apse, an entrance door of elegant simplicity, a square bell tower, round-arched or segmental-arched windows, all supported by lateral and angular buttresses which are undoubtedly of Romanesque inspiration. Also noteworthy inside, in the choir, is a small round-arched piscina carved into the wall (...)". Over the centuries, this church was damaged and neglected. It became necessary to build a new place of worship. However, between 1998 and 1999, the municipality of Coudray undertook a complete renovation of the structure: framework, roofing, walls, and stained glass. This church, which has never been deconsecrated, is only used for a few gatherings. La Chapelle de Semaine (or Petite chapelle) The parish church, which until 1893 was the "Old Church of Saint-Julien", was located far from the village and was only accessible by a simple path. Abbé Boucher, appointed priest of Coudray in 1842, had the idea of asking the municipal council for "permission to convert a bakehouse, located in the presbytery courtyard, into a chapel which he would undertake at his own expense" to allow him to say his daily mass, without being obliged to brave the bad weather. When in 1893, another church in the heart of the village replaced the "old church" deemed too far away, it no longer had a reason to exist. It became communal heritage in 1905, and was restored by the municipality in 1987.

The main nave, ending in a semicircular apse, is preceded by a timber-framed porch and opens to the north onto a chapel through a wide archway. The timber-framed bell tower, clearly from the same period as the 17th-century wainscoting, rests on a base spanning the nave. A second nave is covered with quadripartite masonry vaults from different periods. Of a dressed stone tower, only the spiral staircase and the first level remain, built between the 11th and 13th centuries. The side aisle was built in the 14th century and enlarged in the 16th. 1660: Supposed collapse of the tower attached to the nave, of which only the first level remains. 1679: Paneling on the nave and probable construction of the small timber-framed spire. 19th century: Supposed construction of the timber-framed chapel. The church was under the jurisdiction of the chapter of Notre-Dame de Chartres (the chapter's name can be seen on the lock of the small door on the right and is painted on the walls of the capital with stars and the date 1733 L.M.M.P.).

The oldest document mentioning the Church of Saint-Martin in Fresnay-le-Comte is the charter of Renaud de Mouçon, Bishop of Chartres, confirming the possessions of the Abbey of Marmoutier, near Tours. This charter dates only from the last years of the 12th century, but the church's foundation may have already existed at that time. The building comprises two parts of roughly equal size and from different periods. The older part, roughly corresponding to the nave, is of a rather undefined style. The west portal, with its pointed arch devoid of any decoration, may date back to the 12th or 13th century, as may the first window of the nave, on the right. In the north wall, there is a small, walled-up doorway, whose lintel, adorned with an accolade, is no earlier than the 15th century, but the relieving arch above it appears older, perhaps from the 12th century. Half of the church, including almost the entire chancel, is from a more recent period and easily recognizable. The polygonal apse and the windows with their flamboyant tracery of late design indicate the very end of the 15th century. An inscription on one of the chancel's tie beams gives a precise date: In the year 1529, this chancel was completely rebuilt. The statue of the Virgin Mary was baptized during the Mass of October 30, 2021, by Father Pierre Paul. This statue, moved from the Chapel of the Three Marys in Mignières, was restored by Mr. Martial Moulin, a sculptor from Chartres.

The Church of Saint-Hilaire in Montainville is a religious monument located in the commune of Les Villages Vovéens. This place of worship, whose construction period is not specified in available sources, is an integral part of the local architectural landscape. Its name, Saint-Hilaire, suggests a dedication to a Christian saint, a common practice for medieval and modern churches, but no further information allows us to determine its exact origin or historical specifics. In the Centre-Val de Loire region, parish churches like Saint-Hilaire played a central role in community life, serving as places of prayer, gatherings, and social organization. Lacking precise data on this monument, it can be assumed that it fulfilled the traditional functions of rural religious buildings: celebrating religious services, administering the sacraments, and maintaining connections among the inhabitants. The dominant agricultural activities of the region often influenced the maintenance and use of these places, although it is not possible to assert a direct link with this particular church.

This church in Meslay-Le-Vidame, whose architecture reflects the formal language of antiquity, was dedicated to the patron saint of Saint Etienne. He was one of the first seven deacons of the original Jerusalem church and, according to the biblical accounts in the New Testament, the first martyr (martyr) of early Christianity. The church commemorates his death on Boxing Day, December 26th. As the Acts of the Apostles recounts: When Stephen recounted his vision of the open heavens, "And he, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Chapter 7, Verse 55), the people were so outraged that they drove him out of the city and stoned him.

On the night of April 2-3, 1903, a terrible fire completely destroyed the church of Saint-Sulpice. The spire, the roof, and all the furnishings—pews, pulpit, woodwork, altars—were consumed; only the walls remained standing. This church, 23.80 m long and 6.90 m wide, built in the shape of a perfect parallelogram with a straight chevet, formerly lit by a triple lancet window, was flanked on the right by a groin-vaulted chapel 6.10 m wide and 5.55 m deep, and on the left by the bell tower, beneath which was once a chapel, also groin-vaulted, but transformed into a sacristy a few years ago. This tower, reached by a stone staircase, was topped by an octagonal timber-framed spire, elegantly crafted and the tallest in the entire region. This church has been remodeled several times, most recently during the reconstruction of the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin in 1764. However, this dates back to the 16th century, as evidenced by the flamboyant ogival window with two mullions, only the top of which was visible, the lower part having been walled up to accommodate the altarpiece. The second window, on the south side, is semicircular with a mullion, adorned with stained-glass windows with figures of the Blessed Virgin, Saint Anne, and Saint Joachim framed in small medallions painted by Mr. Lorin in 1895. The nave wall received windows of the same style at the same time, but the enormous buttresses and the freestone stringcourse with dripstone were erected in the 16th century. The rest of the church, the gable of the façade with its Romanesque window flanked by two barely protruding pillars, the gable of the chevet with its triple lancet arch, protected by a semicircular arch of dressed stone, the entire north wall, also supported by slightly protruding buttresses and adorned with semicircular windows, and the bell tower, date from the late 12th century. The exterior entablature of the chevet was formed of carved corbels with foliage and strange, crude figures (alternating human heads and rams' heads), irrefutable evidence of this ancient origin. The church was consecrated after the 16th-century restoration, and a beautiful consecration stone with trefoiled ends can still be seen. The church's benefactor had his coat of arms carved on a projecting shield on the corner buttress of the façade gable, and inside the seigneurial tier. The destruction of the woodwork revealed two double oval shields on either side of the high altar, surmounted by a marquis's crown and supported by two greyhounds. The dexter shield bears a gules chevron, accompanied at the top by two roses of the same color and at the base by a cross of Lorraine; the sinister shield reveals a wild boar at the base and two flames or thunderbolts at the top. Could these be the arms of Mre Loup de Cosne? These same shields are found in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin in four places and in the sacristy. In the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin, a third shield is also found bearing a standing lion, attached to a shield bearing a wild boar and two flames. In 1623, Loup de Cosne, Lord of Vovelle, had a daughter named Francoyse, baptized in Dammarie; in 1653, Charles de Cosne was lord of Loiville and Mre Mangot, lord of Boncé.