Bastide de Francescas

Francescas

South of Nérac, in the hills of the Albret, Francescas bears a name meaning "land of the Franks", attested in the forms Franciscano and then Francisca. The village took shape in the 11th and 12th centuries around a property of the abbey of Condom, cited in 1161, and became the seat of a bailiwick in 1264 before a paréage of 1285 between Edward I and the abbot of Condom gave it, the following year, the status of castrum and of bastide. Ditches and four gates then surrounded the town, whose outline is found again in the ring boulevard that encircles it. The square with cornières, lined with houses from the 14th to the 19th century, the church of Notre-Dame and its doorway of the 14th century, the memory of a bell-tower fortified in 1587 for the Wars of Religion tell of a monastic village which the crown of England cast in the mould of the bastides. The ramparts were pulled down about 1770-1780.

Getting there : Free access to the village. Tourist office of the Albret; no market or opening times documented in the texts.

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

Ambient sound