Discover Chillac: Church, Château and Landscape

Chillac brings together several clearly distinguishable traces of history and landscape. The Romanesque Saint-Sulpice Church, the Château de Chillac, the former Petit Mairat railway bridge and the archaeological sites in the hamlet of Les Justices represent different layers of the town’s history. In addition, there is a watershed, wooded terrain and a marked hiking trail. Those assessing the town can therefore consider its buildings, archaeological evidence and landforms separately without blurring their differences.

Culture and History

The Saint-Sulpice Church in Chillac is a single-nave Romanesque church dating from the 12th century. It was severely damaged during the Hundred Years’ War and completely restored in the 15th century. Three levels are visible on its exterior façade; substantial Gothic buttresses reinforce the structure. The façades and roofs were listed as historic monuments by decree of 16 May 1961. The interior of the church cannot currently be visited. The focus of consideration therefore lies on the exterior architectural form, its visible structure and its historical development.

The Château de Chillac is also one of the town’s notable buildings. Its façades and roofs were listed by decree of 16. The Château de Chillac is characterised by three towers. The arrangement of the towers creates a different architectural accent from the single-nave church; the two buildings can therefore be distinguished according to their architectural form, preservation features and historical classification.

Another historical trace is the former Petit Mairat railway bridge, which can be seen in Chillac. It points to an earlier transport connection and complements the religious and seigneurial buildings with a technical structure. Settlement traces from the Mousterian Palaeolithic, as well as flint pieces, blades and scrapers, were also discovered in the hamlet of Les Justices. The transport structure and the artefacts thus represent two separate approaches to the town’s past.

Landscape and Trails

Chillac lies on a watershed. It separates the Charente drainage basin to the north from the Dordogne drainage basin to the south. This geographical relationship describes a north-south division between river basins and is different from the visible features of the terrain.

The terrain is more pronounced in the wooded southwest of Chillac. The elevations include those near the ruins of the Pécalèbre mill; they reach a height of 166 m. The watershed and the relief thus provide two different scales for geographical classification: the former indicates the location between two drainage basins, while the latter refers to the elevations and landforms in the wooded southwest.

The Sentier des Terriers de Pécalèbre is a 13-kilometre PDIPR hiking trail that begins at the church. Its length provides a concrete measure of the route, while its starting point marks the connection between the town centre and the landscape. Together with the watershed, the wooded southwest and the elevations near the mill ruins, it creates an independent perspective on Chillac that takes into account not only individual sights but also their geographical context.

Further Town Selection

As a supplementary selection of towns, the following are included: Soyaux, Balzac, Condéon, Lignières-Sonneville, Passirac, Ranville-Breuillaud, Aigre and Villars.

For the higher-level travel overview: Charente.