Visit of Ambialet 

Ambialet le bas:
Situated beneath the priory, Ambialet le bas was, until the revolution, the seat of the Viscountcy. Two ferries assured communication between the bank on the Valence side and the opposing bank on the Courris side. Close to the hydroelectric power station there are the remains of the tower on which was attached the cable used by upstream ferry, which operated until 1900.

Go up to the priory by taking the road to the left of the "Café de la Presqu'île". Just past the café, a little road to the right will then take you to the 14thC church of Saint-Gilles. Partially built in to the rock, and overhanging the river, its origins go back to the 11thC when a certain Hugon gave it, with "tithes and outlying lands" to the Benedictine priory who's monks provided religious services until the Albigensian Crusade. This elegant building, with a beautiful ogival vault in "lauzes", or cut stone tiles, was burnt down by the Protestants in the Wars of Religion (1568).Rebuilt at the beginning of the 17thC, religious services were held there until 1853, the date when it was finally abandoned. It was completely restored in 1996 and is now used for events and exhibitions.

 Return to the main road where you will be able to admire, just after the concrete stairs, a very fine 15thC stone cross. Sadly, the lower part of this cross has disappeared and has been replaced by a base, also in stone, but not part of the original.
Carry on up the picturesque path hewn out of the schist until the first Station of the Cross where a little path branching to the right will lead you to the cross of St John.

A number of constructions (notch-houses, stairways, paths...) are still perfectly visible here. They give witness to the presence of medieval dwellings, associated with the nearby mines and ruined during the Wars of Religion. Half a dozen small forts used to line the crest of the ridge between the priory and the castle. They have left their names to the rocks on which they were built: The King's fort, the Roquetaillade fort, the chapel fort, the Montcabrière fort and the Payrolles fort. Also, the square tower that can be seen above the church of Saint-Gilles probably belonged to the fort of St John and served as a bell tower.

From the cross there is a superb view over the isthmus, the upper regions of Ambialet and especially the ruins of the Trencavel castle. Return to follow the path up to the Priory. At its end can be found a "Phylurea Média" - a sort of Arbutus tree, more commonly known as an "Aladem" and which, according to legend, was brought back from the Holy Land by a crusader. This type of Arbutus is quite common in this region but is usually much smaller.

The church Notre-Dame du Prieuré is one of the oldest in the department. In 1057, Frotaire, bishop of Nîmes, gave, free of tithes, to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Victor at Marseille, the peninsular of Ambialet with its existing chapel and other properties including the parish church of Saint-Gilles. The monks who settled there immediately began the building of a new church to replace the simple 8thC oratory, and a small monastery. After two centuries of prosperity, during which this Benedictine Abbey came to own most of the valley, it experienced a marked decline aggravated by the eviction of the Viscount's family.

In the middle of the 15thC, the priory came under the authority of the Chapter of Montpellier. During the religious conflicts, the church was several times converted into a fort to withstand the assaults of the Protestants and to serve as a refuge for the local population. The revolution made the priory, which was then in a piteous state, the property of the commune. In 1865, the priest, Father Clausade, bought the ruins of the monastery and installed there a noviciate of the Third Regular Order of the Franciscans. Restoration commenced at this time by the removal of plaster which covered the internal walls, and other aberrant "embellishments", which were aimed at accentuating its medieval character.

This building is one of the finest examples of Romanesque art in the region. It is characterised by its basilical layout with narrow aisles, its three vaulted apses and the functional and harmonious sobriety of the "lombardic band" decoration of the chevets. It is this part that is the oldest and least changed of the building. Originally a wooden roof covered the nave but it was vaulted at the beginning of the 12thC with the double-arch reinforcements and lateral buttresses. By way of decoration, at the entrance of the choir there are two columns crowned with rudimentary scrolled capitals and a chamfered cordon bordering the arches. The archivolt of the Romanesque door, supported on each side by columns with capitals and sculpted abaci, dates from the 12thC. Its surprising depth is explained by the thickness of the pillars which support the bell tower situated above the porch, and not at the crossing of the nave and transept as is usual.

Inside the church can be seen a 17thC statue in polychrome wood of the Virgin and Child, known as "Notre-Dame de l'Oder". In July 1991 the Franciscans ceded the edifice to the Congregation of Saint Jean who have occupied it since.

Go back down to the car park from where you can walk across the barrage built across the Tarn. It is reached by going through the "Porte de Lalmière" which protects the village from floods. On your return, you can see on the right hand side the southern wall of the church of Saint Gilles, with its striking gothic window. The first barrage was built in 1291 by the monks of the priory who also then built a mill on the site where the hydroelectric power station now stands.

Then pass in front of this austere building, with the appearance of a grand manor, built in 1920 to provide electricity for the steelworks of the "Saut-du-Tarn". Then go through the tunnel and take the road that goes to Villeneuve and Trébas. This hole pierced through the rock ridge in 1900 opens on to Ambialet-le-Haut and, more precisely, to the Théron quarter which, following the revolution, became the administrative centre of the village. An enclosure descending from the Trencavel castle down to the river originally surrounded this part of the village. Punctuated by the gates of the Théron, the Diluyre and the Taillade, this wall offered little resistance to attacks, particularly that of the Huguenots during the Wars of Religion.

The stairway situated on the right near the former presbytery will lead you to the parish church. On its left you will see a splendid cemetery cross. Although dated 1759-1760 on its base it is actually a work of the 15thC carved with Christ on the cross on one side and the Virgin with Child on the other. The church of Notre-Dame de la Capelle was built in the 15thC and then covered the existing sanctuary. This former castle chapel bears, on the keystone of the choir vault, the arms of the Castelpers family - Lords of Ambialet from the 14thC to the 17thC. After the Wars of Religion and the degradation of the church of Saint-Gilles, it became the seat of a small priory and later used to provide religious services for the parish.

The rocks that rise above the chapel, in the direction beyond the war memorial, present a platform on which used to stand the Roquetaillade fort. A range of structures (notch-houses, stairways, platforms, seating places, ditches, hut foundations) attest to a medieval settlement extending along the whole ridge, from the castle to the church.

Now rejoin the Albi road (bridge side) by descending the steps situated on the other side of the rocky spur. Follow the road and, about 200 metres after the service station, take the little path that will lead you up to the castle and the viewpoint of Saint-Raphaël. It may be better first to climb up to the viewpoint as the climb is quite steep and, if you first stop at the castle, you may not want to continue with the climb!

From Saint-Raphaël, there is an exceptional view of the whole of the peninsular of Ambialet, and particularly of the Priory, the remains of the castle and the village.

Then return to the ruins of the chateau. Following the contours of the rocks perfectly, this fortress, whose origins go back to the 10thC, was built between two faces fitting tightly around the living quarters dominated by an overhanging tower. Access was by a fortified gate of which only the side walls remain. There are remains of rebates and indentations of unidentified usage. The main building comprised a single storey below which were the stables and storage for carts. The upper level, which was reached by a stairway carved into the rock, comprised several rooms which, if not comfortable, must have been quite spacious. Another stairway led, by a narrow path, to a square keep. Its small size suggests that it served as a watchtower and was probably equipped with an alarm bell. To complete its defense, the castle was isolated from the rest of the site by a deep ditch to the south which served as a quarry. Unfortunately, the castle did not get the attention it deserved, so much so that little by little the wind and the rain caused the collapse of the walls, one after another.

You can then return to the village centre by returning along the path by which you came.

The cave of Oubièges:

This can be seen in the course of one of the signposted walks in the neighbourhood. Discovered by chance in 1959, it is an interesting cave of about 15 metres depth and probably of medieval origin. The two entrances to the cave are separated by a distance of about 25 metres and aligned on a North-South axis. Inside the Northern entrance there is an excavation 1 metre wide and 4 metres long. On each side of the passage a long oblique groove has been carved about 1 metre from the ground. Then there is a sort of ventilation hole 80 cm by 1 metre long opening on to the single room of the cave, whose walls still show the impacts of the cutting tools. At the end of the room, there is on the left hand side the beginning of a passage leading to an excavation that may have served as a lookout.