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Bastide (planned town)Tarn

Villeneuve-sur-Vère

Villeneuve-sur-Vère

Dimensions
The church of Saint-Sauveur of the 15th century, its monumental doorway with the arms of Julien de Médicis dated 1582, a columned altarpiece of the 16th century; the stone episcopal residence on three storeys, which became the presbytery after the Revolution, beside the town hall; the site of the castle, mentioned in 1612, in front of the church; Notre-Dame de la Gardelle in the middle of the cemetery, on the Cordes road; the Gothic church of Saint-Étienne de Brès with its bell-gable, funerary slabs and frescoes.
Period
The old Villeneuve razed about 1211-1212; bastide founded about 1212; episcopal lordship from 1479; church of Saint-Sauveur 15th century, doorway of 1582.
What stands there
No protection as a monument historique is recorded in the texts. A commune of 533 inhabitants in 2022, cited by the Pays albigeois among the bastides of the Albigeois. Remains of amphorae found near a washing place on the site of the old Villeneuve.

North of Albi, on the Vère, Villeneuve is a new town twice born. A first Villeneuve is said by tradition to have been razed by Simon de Montfort, whose passage is recorded in 1211 and 1212; about 1212, Déodat Alaman, minister of the counts of Toulouse and skilful enough always to take the winner's side, founded Villeneuve-la-Nouvelle beside it. The castle, which belonged to the Trencavel viscounts and then to the bishops of Albi, was no more than ruins in the 19th century; in 1479 Louis d'Amboise bought the lordship for the archbishopric, and a stone episcopal residence, of three storeys with French-style ceilings, survives near the town hall. The church of Saint-Sauveur, of the 15th century, bears on its monumental doorway the arms of Julien de Médicis, bishop of Albi, dated 1582; Notre-Dame de la Gardelle, in the middle of its cemetery, and Saint-Étienne de Brès complete this heritage.

Further reading

Getting there : Free access to the town. No tourist office or market is documented in the texts.

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

Villeneuve-sur-Vère
Bastien marie-françoise · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Tarn (23).