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Bastide (planned town)Aveyron

Villecomtal

Villecomtal

Dimensions
The chequerboard plan along the valley road; the Portal Bas, a 14th-century town gate inscribed in 1992, a remnant of the 15th-century wall; the red sandstone porch; the church of Saint-Barthélemy; the château del Puech and the château de la Guizardie; the chapel of Saint-Blaise de Servières (12th, 14th and 16th centuries), inscribed in 1992; a façade ornamented with a painted Marianne and tricolour flags.
Period
Foundation around 1295; town gate of the 14th century, wall of the 15th; revolutionary name of Dordon; Petite Église from 1801.
What stands there
Town gate and chapel of Saint-Blaise inscribed as monuments historiques in 1992. A village with the Petite Cité de Caractère label. A comital foundation whose plan was drawn by an architect of the cathedral of Rodez.

In the valley of the Dourdou, between Rodez and Conques, Villecomtal, the Villa Comtalis, was founded around 1295 by Henri II, count of Rodez, the same man who had just created Réquista. The village was built along a road serving the valley, on a chequerboard plan drawn up by an architect of the cathedral of Rodez, and surrounded in the 15th century by a wall of which the Portal Bas survives, a town gate inscribed as a monument historique. The red sandstone of the country gives its colour to the façades and to the porch. A 13th-century village, Villecomtal was around 1800 the centre of the "Petite Église" of the priests who refused the Concordat, the Enfarinés, whose "Little Rome" it became. The château del Puech, the chapel of Saint-Blaise de Servières and the church of Saint-Barthélemy complete this small town of character.

Further reading

Getting there : Village with free access; no market or tourist office documented in the texts (information from Tourisme Aveyron).

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

Villecomtal
Krzysztof Golik · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Aveyron (20).