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Bastide (planned town)Lot

Rudelle

Rudelle

Dimensions
The church of Saint-Martial of the 13th century, a fortified church on two levels whose upper floor served as a refuge for the population, with its added chapels and the look of a fortress accentuated by Paul Gout's restoration in the 1890s; the street-village established near the ford, on the road from Gramat to Figeac.
Period
Bastide founded about 1250; chapel of the hospital cited in 1266; fortified church mentioned in 1320, raised in the 14th century; parish church in 1470; classified in 1886.
What stands there
The church of Saint-Martial has been classified as a monument historique since 1886, one of the first classifications in the Lot. Rudelle is a bastide of the Cardaillac, one of the great families of the Quercy, endowed with the customs of Figeac in 1320.

Between Gramat and Figeac, on the old road linking Rocamadour to the Rouergue and near a ford, Rudelle is a new village founded about 1250 by Bertrand III de Cardaillac, lord of Lacapelle-Marival, on the pilgrims' way. What strikes one first is its church of Saint-Martial of the 13th century, a true fortified church, mentioned as such as early as 1320, the year in which the customs of Figeac were granted to the inhabitants. During the Hundred Years' War a second level was added above the nave as a chamber of refuge against the companies and the routiers; in 1471 Astorg de Cardaillac gave up his tower to the inhabitants, who defended it again in 1593 against the viscount of Turenne. Classified as a monument historique as early as 1886, the church was restored in the 1890s by Paul Gout, who heightened its look of a fortress. The name of Rudelle, it is said, honours the troubadour Jaufré Rudel.

Further reading

Getting there : Free access to the village and to the surroundings of the church.

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

Rudelle
Thérèse Gaigé · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Lot (15).