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Last updated at 22:50 PM, Tue, 14 Sep
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Within these hallowed walls
The restoration has been a long process - but worth it
Over many hundreds of years the twelfth century Rauzet priory gradually fell into ruin. Then one day it was discovered by Britons Kate Douglas and Carole Hutchison and now it has been largely restored to its former elegance.
They first came across the priory in 1983 through the research Carole was doing as part of her doctorate in Cistercian monks. The priory is part of a monastery that was once inhabited by monks of the Grandmont order, a strict religious order of hermit monks that had its origins near Limoges, in the early eleventh century.
Their extremely austere way of life - dressing in sack cloth, living in cells and adhering to a strict and frugal vegetarian diet - made it unappealing to many.
They kept no formal records so finding out about them was hard. ‘However, we do know that at one time there were around 156 monasteries (known as houses) in France,’ says Carole.
The order, which over the years lost its reputation for austerity, suffered during the One Hundred Years War and then during the sixteenth century Huguenot (Protestant) uprising, finally being dissolved in 1772 on the orders of the pope, and the buildings sold off during the French Revolution.
Many fell into ruin and today in France there are only about 20 remaining. When Carole and Kate first saw the priory in the south Charente it was in a terrible state. ‘There was a huge hole in the apse and trees were growing out of it; the place was in a very sorry state,’ says Kate.
After being abandoned by the monks in the sixteenth century, the priory, monastery barn, cloisters and monastic kitchens had been used by a succession of farmers who, until the 1980s, had also built outbuildings on top of the foundations of the old monastery.
‘The widow of the last farmer who worked here was going to quarry the priory which was why we were invited to step in and buy it,’ says Carole. ‘By the time we got here, though, they’d already removed the flagstones.’
To find out how Carole and Kate went about restoring the priory see the September issue of theFrench Paper.