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Bastide (planned town)Dordogne

Vergt

Vergt

Dimensions
The elongated plan of the bastide, between the bed of the Vern and the foot of the slope, can be read in its parallel streets, joined at their ends by the lanes of the former hamlets. The market hall occupies the middle of the square and hosts the strawberry market. The church of Saint-Jean, rebuilt in the 19th century, has an interior decorated by well-known local artists. No gate or rampart is documented.
Period
Comital bastide founded in 1285; battle of Vergt in 1562; commune created in 1790; church rebuilt in the 19th century.
What stands there
Vergt is one of the three comital bastides of the Périgord recorded by Dordogne Périgord Tourisme, with Bénévent and Saint-Aulaye, and it belongs to the Fédération des Bastides d'Aquitaine. No protection as a monument historique is documented for the bastide. The canton of Vergt is a major centre of strawberry growing in France.

Eighteen kilometres south of Périgueux, in the valley of the Vern, Vergt is a comital bastide founded in 1285 by the count of Périgord Archambaud III to repopulate and bring under cultivation a small valley, by linking two existing hamlets. Its elongated plan, constrained by the bed of the river and the foot of the slope, keeps its parallel streets, its central square and the market hall that stands there; the church of Saint-Jean was rebuilt in the 19th century and decorated by local artists. On 9 October 1562 the battle of Vergt saw the Catholic captain Blaise de Monluc defeat Symphorien de Duras and Guy de Montferrand, lord of Langoiran, one of the great encounters of the first Wars of Religion in Guyenne. Vergt is today the Périgord capital of the strawberry, celebrated every third Sunday in May.

Further reading

Getting there : Town freely accessible. Strawberry market under the market hall in summer; Strawberry and Flower Festival on the third Sunday in May.

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

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Nearby

This place in the great stories

In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).