Abbaye Notre-Dame de Bonlieu

Peyrat-la-Nonière

Founded in 1119 by Géraud de Salles, a monk who came from the abbey of Dalon in Périgord to establish a hermitage, it became an abbey on its founder's death in 1121 and was attached to the Cistercian Order in 1162. Regarded in its day as the finest and largest abbey in the whole of the Creuse, it was plundered by the English during the Hundred Years' War, then by the Huguenots during the Wars of Religion, before being sold as national property at the Revolution — by then only three monks remained.

Getting there : Private property, exterior visible

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

Ambient sound