The best traffic-free bike rides around Saint-Michel-Tubœuf

Of Romanesque foundation, the church of Saint-Maurice-lès-Charencey, dedicated to Saint Maurice, was remodeled at the end of the Middle Ages and then extensively renovated in the 19th century. It consists of a nave of four bays ending in a semicircular apse. This nave constitutes the oldest part of the building onto which several elements were grafted to the north. The building is indeed flanked on this side by a side aisle opening onto the nave by a series of large arches with a broken profile. This side aisle, the first bay of which serves as the base of the bell tower, opens onto the north arm of a transept of which only this part was built or remains. Its construction probably predates that of the side aisle, as would tend to prove, thanks to the careful examination of the framework, the presence of an old valley ridge, visible under the current roof. During the Restoration, the church's western façade was completely rebuilt; the current bell tower, likely erected in place of an older one, belongs to this same renovation project, which can be dated to 1821 according to an inscription inserted in the gable wall. Finally, a sacristy was built later in the northeast corner of the building, against the apse and the transept arm. Constructed of rubble stone covered in some parts with an old lime render, and in others with a hydraulic binder-based render that was quite unsightly and would eventually deteriorate, it rests on a basement partially uncovered during the work on the western façade. Its current slate roof does not appear to be original: the church was once covered with flat tiles. Several types of bays bear witness to the successive interventions in the building: the choir retains three examples of small, semicircular bays made of Grison stone, two of which were partially walled up during the installation of the great high altar and altarpiece in the choir. The workmanship of the other bays pierced in the south wall, with their broken profiles and brick frames, testifies to 19th-century work. As for the stones and limestone latticework of the large window, of fine quality, with flamboyant tracery that illuminates the north arm of the transept, they show worrying alterations. While the exterior of the church attracts little attention—its unfinished and rather unsightly surroundings contribute to this—the interior presents a rich and interesting decoration. Indeed, the nave is covered by a beautiful, high-volume, paneled timber vault with a broken profile, the entire surface of which is decorated with stencils with highlights of red, blue-gray, and black. The hallmarks and tie beams are carved and painted. Emblazoned engolante heads decorate the central sections of the tie beams. The choir vault features a particularly elaborate blue scrollwork decoration, probably reworked in the 19th century, but of high decorative quality. The choir is occupied by a substantial high altar with a reredos, with three sides, which therefore does not follow the curve of the masonry and conceals the roof posts decorated with Ionic pilasters. The central panel, crowned by a pointed pediment, is framed by side panels with triangular pediments. Niches, pilasters with Corinthian capitals, and obelisks complete this work. The aisle is also covered by a paneled vault decorated with painted red, gray-blue, and black bands, with white festoons and plant motifs. For masonry, framework and roofing work, the Sauvegarde de l’Art français granted a grant of €18,294 in 2001.

In the center of Randonnai, the 16th-century Saint-Malo church, enlarged in 1836, houses several works classified as Historic Monuments, including a classical altarpiece with paintings of Saint Andrew and Saint Sebastian. Funeral slabs serve as threshold steps. Inside, a plaque commemorates the departure of Pierre Tremblay (whose birthplace is in La Filonnière) in 1647 for New France. He is the ancestor of the Tremblays of Quebec and North America.

This building was erected towards the end of the 15th century, on the former medieval fiefdom known since 1260 as the "Normandel Farm" and long owned by the Viron family. In the chapel dedicated to him, a beautiful 16th-century statue depicting Saint Firmin as a bishop and the magnificent white stone altarpiece, sculpted and ornamented in the purest Renaissance style, evoke the ardent faith of this evangelizer of Roman Gaul in the 3rd century. The current church, restored at the end of the 19th century in the style of the period after a long period of neglect, retains some traces of the old construction: the masonry of the rear wall overlooking the cemetery, with the remains of a small closed door and two buttresses of large rubble, and on the gable of the transept overlooking the road, a large Flamboyant Gothic window. The church of Normandel preserves other elements of great interest. In the chapel, on the right side, is a beautiful 16th-century polychrome stone Virgin and Child. Below the statue, a second stone altarpiece, finely carved and ornamented in the Renaissance style, shows, on one side, Mary seated near Jesus holding a chalice, and Joseph leaning on his cane, to whom the young John the Baptist appears to be bidding farewell before departing for the desert. In the nave, the large Christ on the cross, surrounded by Mary and Saint John, is moving in its sobriety: the outstretched arms of the crucified bear the full weight of our humanity, raising it to God. In the sacristy, an old fragment of an embroidered banner bears the image of Saint Firmin and the inscription "Charity of Normandel - 1513."

Since 1823, the commune's territory has united the former parish of La Trinité, which was under the bishopric of Chartres, and that of Beaulieu, under the bishopric of Evreux, located on either side of the Avre River, which marked the separation. The tall brick bell tower-porch was added in the 19th century to the older nave (15th-16th centuries?), rectangular in plan, whose wooden vault rests on an exposed roof frame. This modest rural church houses, as a counterpart to the Curé d'Ars, a 15th-century polychrome stone Virgin of exceptional artistic quality. The two sculpted doors of the sacristy come from La Trinité, as well as the engraved "flat tomb" attached to the nave wall. It dates from the 15th century. and the inscriptions are difficult to decipher: Jean Fillon, wearing a canon's hood and a chasuble, his hands clasped and his feet resting on two small dogs, is depicted in a Gothic setting with two angels, silhouettes of altar boys, and canons. Near the baptismal font decorated with three fleurs-de-lis is a large painting of Saint Gilles the hermit, with the doe lying at his feet. A beautiful series of stained-glass windows from the early 20th century illustrate scenes from the New Testament, and two others show Joan of Arc at the king's coronation in Reims, then taking communion in her prison before being led to the stake.

The church is closely inserted between the castle park and the houses of the village, which presents a harmonious ensemble of buildings from the 18th and early 19th centuries, combining flint and brick with lime plaster tinted with ochre. You have to step back a little to see its apse, the foundation of which probably dates back to the Romanesque period. Next to the entrance gable, dressed in Grison rubble, the bell tower was built in 1867 (according to the inscription preserving the names of the mason Gelin and the carpenter Hallier, with those of the priest, Abbot Porcher, the mayor, Viscount des Brosses, and the municipal councilors). The nave is extended by a rounded apse, with thick walls pierced by widely splayed semicircular openings, between which are placed the statues of Saint Sebastian, the Virgin and Child, Saint Michael and the dragon, and a holy bishop. On the "perque" (or beam of glory), a large Christ surrounded by the Virgin and Saint John. The transverse chapel, on the right, from the 15th or 16th century, vaulted with ribs resting on four pendentives with a central key carved like lace, was the seat of the brotherhoods. It houses the more recent statues of Saint Sebastian, the Virgin, Saint Michael and a holy bishop. The seigneury of Chennebrun, which belonged successively to Saint-Simon de Courtomer (1650), Caumont de la Force (1670), Grimoard de Beauvoir (1688), Laval Montmorency (1714), d'Espinay Saint-Luc (1765), etc., was acquired during the Restoration by Jacques-Alexandre Giroult des Brosses, whose father had been mayor of Dreux in 1771. In the seigneurial chapel on the left, inscriptions recall the names and dates of the members of this family linked for more than four generations to the life of the commune. We are grateful to them for having admirably maintained the castle, whose 18th century façade and the entrance to the park are visible from the gate. Their coat of arms appears on the stained glass window of this chapel, where we recognize in the center those of a Laval-Montmorency, Lord of Chennebrun, knight of honor of the Duchess of Orléans, master of the cavalry camp, who died in 1757, as indicated by his funerary slab on the threshold. The numerous 19th century stained glass windows with the names of the donors are worth seeing in detail. The one in the center, in the choir, lifts us to the sky with Our Lady of the Assumption. The statue of Mary, patron saint of Chennebrun, never ceases to watch over her church.

Right next to the town hall, the ideal place for a break

After seven and a half years of experimentation, malfunctions and a yield well below expectations, this solar road was finally dismantled in the summer of 2024, signaling the failure of a certain technological utopia. The electricity production was never at the level of the hopes raised: in 2022 for example, the figures indicated that the road could only supply electricity to three homes. The idea of powering the village's public lighting, which had been launched at the start of the project, was quickly abandoned. From the first weeks of operation, many problems appeared: subsidence, fouling, noise pollution, etc. Technical problems that led to frequent closures of the road. And the dissatisfaction of locals and users ended up sounding the death knell for this pioneering experiment. In the end, the project turned out to be three times more expensive than conventional solar panels. Despite these setbacks, the manufacturer behind the project insists on the importance of the lessons learned. Recognizing that their photovoltaic panels are not suitable for a conventional road, the company decided to direct its technology towards cycle paths, parking lots or sidewalks, and other passages subject to less damaging traffic constraints. In any case, the idea of covering our roads with photovoltaic panels, where cars, trucks and various agricultural machinery circulate, remains, in the current state of technology, a utopia.

The church is located near a departmental road and is surrounded by a cemetery. Church oriented with a longitudinal plan composed of a single nave. The entrance to the building is via a porch body. An annex building is attached to the north side of the choir. The western facade of the porch body rises on two levels delimited by a projecting cornice. It is pierced by a low-arched door as well as a rose window in the upper part. The bell tower, of polygonal plan, is positioned on the ridge of the roof. It is covered with a polygonal spire surmounted by a ridge cross and has two roof eaves. The building is covered with a gable roof. That of the annex building ends in a hip. The side walls are pierced with arched bays and supported by buttresses. The annex building is pierced by a quadrangular window and door. The buttresses of the choir bear witness to the Romanesque origins of the church. The nave, built in the 16th century, was enlarged in the 19th century by a bay to the west. The bays of the building were re-pierced around 1822.