Chartreuse du Liget, la fondation d'Henri II Plantagenêt

Chemillé-sur-Indrois

The charter by which Henry II Plantagenet, King of England and Count of Anjou, founded a charterhouse in the forest of Loches is dated 1178; John Lackland confirmed it in 1199 and Saint Louis in 1234. Tradition has it that the king wished to expiate the murder of Thomas Becket, in 1170; no text of the time says so, and the idea appears only in a 13th-century manuscript. Le Liget is a complete charterhouse: the upper house of the fathers; the Corroirie, the lower house of the brothers, from which an estate of two thousand five hundred hectares was managed; and, set apart in the woods, the Saint-Jean chapel, a 12th-century rotunda whose wall paintings, dominated by the Virgin, are among the rare Romanesque frescoes of Touraine. The Hundred Years' War made it necessary to fortify the Corroirie, whose machicolated gateway dates from the 15th century; in 1562, during the Wars of Religion, the prior was murdered. In 1787 the order decided on an almost complete rebuilding, barely begun when the Revolution closed the house: eleven Carthusians were living there in 1790, and the upper house was sold in August 1791. The buildings served as a quarry until Côme-Edmond de Marsay bought them back in 1837 and saved them; his descendants still hold them. To be seen there are the 18th-century gateway, one wing of the great cloister with its vaulted gallery, the ruins of the medieval church and the old tower.

Wikipédia — Chartreuse du Liget ↗

Getting there : From Loches, take the Montrésor road (D 760); car park on site. The upper house can be visited freely, with a leaflet, from 28 March to 11 November 2026 and during certain school holidays, from 10 am to 6 pm, for a modest entry charge, free for children under twelve (to be checked); guided tours for groups by reservation. The Corroirie, a kilometre away, is a separate property. The Saint-Jean chapel, in the forest, is closed: the key is to be requested from the tourist offices of Loches or Montrésor (to be checked); a grille protects the painted rotunda. Allow an hour for the upper house.

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

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