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Bastide (planned town)Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Nay

Nay

Dimensions
The grid plan and the plot pattern of the bastide; the market square, surrounded by arcades, where a monumental town hall and covered market of 1839 has replaced the medieval market hall; the 16th-century Maison carrée, classified, with its stair tower and its galleries with loggias, today the museum of industry; the church of Saint-Vincent of the 15th-16th centuries, with a bell tower of 1520 and an organ of 1673; some thirty metres of the wall of river cobbles and a bartizan behind the church; the castle motte; the museum of the beret.
Period
Market town burned around 1120 and bought back by the monks; bastide of 1302; ramparts of the end of the 14th century; fires of 1381 and 1543, sack of 1569; Maison carrée of the 16th century; town hall and covered market of 1839.
What stands there
Church of Saint-Vincent listed as a monument historique in 1945; Maison carrée classified; pulpit, altar frontal, paintings and statues classified or inscribed. A market held without interruption since the foundation, one of the most important in the department. One hundred and eight hearths in 1385; Nay was nicknamed "little Manchester" for its spinning mills. Member of the Fédération des Bastides d'Aquitaine.

On the bank of the gave de Pau, fifteen kilometres south-east of Pau, Nay is the capital bastide willed in 1302 by Marguerite de Moncade, viscountess of Béarn, in paréage with the hospital of Sainte-Christine de Gabas, whose monks owned this farming hamlet on a transhumance route. Thirteen houses at the start, one hundred and eight hearths in 1385: the new town organised itself around the market square and the covered market, whose upper floor housed the jurats. The market created by Gaston Fébus is still held there. Burned in 1381 and then entirely in 1543, sacked in 1569, Nay was reborn each time thanks to its cloth makers; its Maison carrée of the 16th century, with its rare courtyard with loggias of Italian inspiration, bears witness to it. The grid, the arcades of the square, a stretch of Gaston Fébus's wall of river cobbles and the church of Saint-Vincent, whose bell of 1245 still rings, make up one of the major bastides of the Béarn.

Further reading

Getting there : Freely accessible town. Market on Tuesday morning, which draws people from Lourdes to Laruns; the Fédération des Bastides also mentions Fridays and Saturdays. Tourist office of the Pays de Nay. The Maison carrée houses the museum of industry and exhibitions.

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

Nay
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Nearby

In the same department

All places — Pyrénées-Atlantiques (24).