Sainte-Gauburge Priory, Saint-Cyr-la-Rosière, France

The Sainte-Gaubuge priory was originally a hamlet, which is very well preserved. All the houses are located around the priory. The church building dates from the 13th, 15th and 18th century. The canons of St. Denis are at the origin of the most beautiful architecture sites. Rich carved decorations (13th and 15th century), the house of the prior has magnificent chimneys listed (15th century), and the vaults (13th century) are worth of seeing. Guided tours are available.

References:

Normandy Tourism

User Reviews

pierre Mounier (8 months ago)
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Suzy Feuillet (11 months ago)
In the past all the work was manual except for a very old tractor it reminded of things used in the past like the billhook a pleasant place to visit

séverine lemoigne (12 months ago)
Very interesting museum with many tools and objects to illustrate the different Percheron trades in the past

Gilles Bataille (13 months ago)
Small, very nice and affordable museum (free for children under 18) which allows visitors to discover the history and know-how of a territory and a bygone era. The priory and its orchard are to be discovered! Friendly and attentive welcome, thank you!

Ophélie Delaby (15 months ago)
Very friendly welcome, The visit to the museum is interesting, the explanations are well notified, the rooms are interesting, my partner and I love the floor, the objects are well presented because the universes are very distinct. The visit of the priory is instructive but .. It still lacks explanatory panels on certain things, especially in the courtyard behind, on the trees, etc. In any case we loved this visit, we will definitely come back.

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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