History treasures

Hidden treasures

If you like hidden treasures, those unknown places that conceal a fascinating history, you have come to the right place : our region is full of these little treasures.

1. The Lacapelle-Biron gariotte

Located behind the Bonaguil castle, this building is also a dovecote. The gartiotte is a small dry stone construction, protecting against bad weather. This little sentinel was intended for the owners of the field, agricultural workers and shepherds. A shelter for one or two people as shown by its summary layout: protruding slabs serving as seats, stone bench and sometimes a niche. The name gariotte is a French form of the Occitan word "gariota". This name was wrongly extended to all dry stone cabins in the 1950s.

2.The House of Resistance in Tourliac

This place refers to the local Resistance during the Second World War, and in particular to the massacre of July 14, 1944. That day, the nearby Resistance fighters called “maquisards” planned to march in Villeréal. They had settled in this farm in Tourliac, on the Lot-et-Garonne - Dordogne border. Part of the group helped the farmers to harvest, and another part took part in the parade. When only a dozen “maquisards” remained, the militiamen went to the farm and executed them all.

3.The Beaugas Windmill - Mill of the Three Mills

This windmill built between 1752 and 1800, is located in the hills north of the river Lot, in the heart of the department, and has belonged to the same family for four generations. It is open every day in May because of the blooming of the irises, and more particularly for the “Journées du Patrimoine de Pays et des Moulins”and for the European Heritage Days in September. Outside of these periods, you can still visit the windmill from the outside and it opens on demand.

4.The Marie-Madeleine church of Bournel

On the hike of the Châteaux et Bastides circuit in Haut-Agenais, a small village is grouped around its Marie-Madeleine church dating from the 11th and 12th centuries. It is a beautiful regular construction of white limestone, and has a stone bell tower with wooden hoards. It is listed as a Historic Monument. Admire the house opposite the church, beautiful, from the 15th and 16th centuries, with its mullioned windows, which happens to be the old school.

5.The Saint-Sardos church in Laurenque

This church is of the Agenese Romanesque type, mentioned in 1153 when it was placed under the control of the monastery of Sarlat. It originally consisted of a single nave with three bays, the middle one being topped by a square bell tower and vaulted with a pendant dome. The decoration of the capitals and arches is made up of symbolic elements or borrowed from the Old Testament. The church is open in summer and on request at the town hall the rest of the year.

6. Geocaching

The Cœur de Bastides Tourist Office allows visitors to discover its little heritage treasures : churches, natural viewpoints, vernacular heritage, wash houses, fountains, dovecotes, mills, historical monuments...

The 43 communes of the Bastides community of communes in Haut-Agenais Périgord reveal their treasures to you through Geocaching.

Geocaching is an international hobby that involves using GPS technology to find or hide “caches” in various locations around the world. A typical geocache consists of a small waterproof and durable container, including a record of visits (called a logbook) and sometimes one or more “treasures”, generally worthless trinkets. There are more than 3 million geocaches listed on the Geocaching.com website: https://www.geocaching.com/play

The Geocaching application is free and can be downloaded to a smartphone.

Each of the caches will contain a short historical text explaining the interest of the place, its history... For the moment, 26 caches have been placed. Test the application, you might discover some gems around you!