Chapelle de Faubouloin et ses trois fontaines

Corancy

Faubouloin has to be earned on foot. At the end of a forest path in the upper Morvan, on a rocky shelf overlooking the valley of the Oussière, appears a low, stubborn chapel, Notre-Dame de Grâce, whose oldest walls are a metre thick. A carved date, 1558, recalls its great rebuilding, but tradition traces the sanctuary much further back: a local legend tells that a statue of the Virgin was discovered in an ash tree and that it proved impossible to move it — the chapel, it is said, was born there, around the tree. For Faubouloin is above all a place of waters. Three springs well up round about, each with its own speciality handed down from generation to generation: the Sainte-Marie spring, where mothers threw a garment belonging to their sick child — if it floated, the cure was near; the Sainte-Marguerite spring, invoked for childbirth, children's skin complaints and the health of livestock; and the Frêne (Ash Tree) spring, reputed the most powerful, where young girls came to stick a pin into the tree to find a husband. The great pilgrimages of Easter Monday and 8 September drew crowds from all over the Morvan, with masses, processions, banquets and sometimes memorable brawls. The fervour has shifted to 15 August, when a mass still gathers the faithful. Among beeches and springs, Faubouloin remains one of the most endearing places of popular piety in the Morvan.

Getting there : In the Faubouloin wood, north-east of Corancy (5 km north of Château-Chinon). From the village, take the Maison-Comte road towards the hamlet of Denault, then the forest path (GR Tour du Morvan); waymarked 8.8 km walking loop starting from the church square in Corancy. Free access all year round; key to the chapel at the mairie (town hall), mass on 15 August. Coordinates: village of Corancy (approach point), the chapel is in the forest.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound