Saint-Martial-sur-Isop: Holiday apartments and houses

Saint-Martial-sur-Isop is set in a landscape of hills, forests, streams and meadows. The Rochers de l’Isop route starts here and follows a circular trail. The hike is approximately 6 km long and passes through Saint-Martial-sur-Isop.

Anyone wishing to rent a holiday apartment in Saint-Martial-sur-Isop can choose the village as their destination for their stay.

Culture

Underneath the Church of Saint-Martial is a crypt that is one of the six religious buildings with a crypt in the Haute-Vienne department. It can be accessed via a stone staircase and contains a spring that was used to baptise believers. Excavations in 2004 also uncovered a rounded hollow set into soft stone, from the bottom of which clear water continuously welled up.

The Church of Saint-Martial contains a memorial painting commemorating those who fell in the First World War from 1914 to 1918, which is classified as a protected object. The statue of Saint Leonard in the parish church of Saint-Martial is also classified as a protected object.

Nature

The rocks of the Rochers de l’Isop were formed through a slow process of spheroidal weathering. Mechanical and chemical erosion exposed the resistant cores of the rock. The relief of the Rochers de l’Isop was formed where the Isop carved a passage through a diorite massif. The Rochers de l’Isop have been listed as a protected natural site since 1989. The entrance to the Grotte du Prussien is still visible.

Geographical setting

The Isop is a stream approximately 20 km long that flows into the Blourde. It runs along the foot of the villages of Saint-Martial and Saint-Barbant.

Getting there

The road journey from Limoges to the Rochers de l’Isop follows the RN141, the RD9, the RD675 and then the RD4 to Saint-Martial.

Other places: Mézières-Sur-Issoire, Sussac, Ambazac, Mailhac-Sur-Benaize, Le Chalard, Saint-Vitte-Sur-Briance, Augne, Droux.

For the higher-level travel overview: Haute-Vienne.