The best road cycling routes around La Chapelle-Souëf

The church of Saint-Germain, located in the middle of the village, has a massive character accentuated by the embankment of the departmental road on the north side. The building shows three construction periods: to the north, the imposing square stone bell tower with a pyramid roof dates back to the 12th century; the nave, extended by a choir with a flat chevet, is covered with shingles with a tie-beam and collar-beam roof structure, perhaps dating from the 14th century; to the north and south, two side aisles, each of two bays, were added at the beginning of the 16th century, forming a transept opening onto the nave through pointed arches. These aisles are vaulted with quadripartite vaults with prismatic mouldings; to the south, the former seigneurial chapel has been joined to the aisle. The heavy silhouette of the monument is due to the fact that the side aisles were covered in line with the tiled roof of the main nave, contrary to the custom of the Perche region which favours the covering of each bay of the side aisles with separate roofs resting on transverse gables. The bell tower has two storeys topped by a cornice with modillions; it is buttressed by flat white stone buttresses. The upper storey is pierced by small bays, opening onto the belfry. This bell tower has a square lower hall vaulted with transverse arches, resting on capitals with simple foliage supported by engaged colonnettes at each corner. To the east, a pointed arch opening, now fitted with a stained-glass window, led to a small apse whose arrises were still visible before the work in 1974. This bell tower may have been built around 1190, at a time when Hugues de Thagaric and his wife Anne de Doncourt gave half of the church of Préaux to the Hôtel-Dieu of Nogent-le-Rotrou. This lord of Préaux had gone to England, qualified as seneschal, managing the property of the Count of Perche, Geoffroy V, and his wife Mathilde of Saxony, niece of Richard the Lionheart. The nave and choir form a rectangular space. The west facade has a beautiful pink rendering. It is finished with surmonts and opens with a large door and a window remodelled in the 19th century. The main decorative elements of the church are the high altar, with a pretty gilded wooden tabernacle from the late 17th century, reassembled in 1846 after the raising of the choir; the altars of the side chapels are dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Mary Magdalene. The seven 16th-century stone and terracotta statues, which had been buried in the bell tower embankment, have been replaced there. Also noteworthy is the keystone with the arms of France in the south chapel and, on the wall, a pencil drawing certainly representing Pierre de Fontenay, sieur de la Reinière, a local man who actively led the reconquest of the Perche in the name of King Henry IV. It shows the silhouette of a town with a high keep which could be that of Bellême, of which Fontenay was governor. A commemorative stained-glass window of the 1914-1918 war is also to be noted. For the repair of the church roof, the Sauvegarde de l'Art français granted a donation of €34,000 in 2009.

Church of Plan Massé with a flat chevet. Nave composed of three aisles. Originality of the composition, with four different parts built at distinct times: the bell tower topped with a pavilion roof, two sections of the nave (two bays then five bays), and the choir. The entrance porch of the church is built against the north wall; it is adorned with a balustrade with an openwork network and its slopes are decorated with fleur-de-lis. The tympanum of the portal is polychrome. The eastern gable of the building is pierced by an oculus with four quatrefoils. The slopes are adorned with fleur-de-lis and crowned with a stone cross. Construction stages: Although the construction of the primitive church dates back to the 11th century, it underwent numerous modifications: - the choir dates from the 13th century (it is the priory chapel, opened onto the nave in 1808). - in the 15th century the nave was enlarged (which corresponds to the second section). - in the 16th century, the first section of the nave was partially rebuilt. Addition of side chapels at an unknown date. History: The church was ceded around 1090 by Gauthier Chesnel, lord of Ceton, to the Cluniac monks of Saint-Denis de Nogent-le-Rotrou. They established a priory there which was suppressed during the Revolution. This church replaced the village parish church which was destroyed during the Revolution.

Mentioned as early as the 13th century as a dependency of the abbey of Saint-Père, near Chartres, the Notre-Dame des Étilleux church comprises three disparate parts, the most surprising of which is the four-level bell tower, topped by a belfry covered in slate and a lanternon. Protestants are said to have held a sermon there in 1577. Since its foundation, the church has undergone many transformations, notably the rather recent decoration of the choir, an intertwining of fair-weather cumulus clouds in stucco that allows one to guess the original stone wall and a pointed arch opening. A beautiful flamboyant door opens to the west onto a parvis renovated in 1995, and the eastern part, on the sacristy side, has retained its row of gargoyles adorning the choir's slopes. This church is renowned for the very beautiful statue it houses: a Virgin and Child whose pronounced hip sway, facial expression, and the drapery of the mantle are characteristic of a 14th-century representation.

Detailed information is available on Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porte_Saint-Julien_(La_Fert%C3%A9-Bernard)

The priory was founded at the beginning of the 11th century and is dedicated to Saint Gauburge (or Walburge), abbess of a large Bavarian monastery in the 8th century. Originally owned by the lords of Bellême, it passed, from the 12th century, to the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis-en-France. From the end of the 15th century, it was directly dependent on royal power until the Revolution. An important rural estate, its buildings bear witness to its special status and the magnitude of its revenues. Since 1972, it has housed the headquarters of the Perche Ecomuseum, which bears witness to the peasant life of the Perche and develops a diverse cultural program.

Pretty little town with character!

The church has a Latin cross plan. It has a single nave and a flat chevet. A small building is attached to the chevet. A bell tower flanks the building. Buttresses support the drip walls and the gable wall. Pointed arch bays with tracery illuminate the building. The portal, in a low arch, has its external arched voussure.

Church built in the 12th and 16th centuries. Listed apse from the 12th century. 4-storey bell tower. Corner buttress bell with staircase turret. Renaissance portal. Large Gothic window above the portal. 16th century roof and nave. Stone statue of a bishop, 16th century paintings.