Melle - Saint-Hilaire

Melle was known already during Roman times, when silver and lead were mined here. The silver mines were exploited over hundreds of years, got forgotten and "rediscovered" in the 19th century. Today they are a tourist attraction. Melle was wealthy and the pilgrims, walking the Via Turonensis, passed through Melle on their way to Santiago, what brought even more money into town.

Churches were erected during the heydays of the pilgrimage- and three (!) Romanesque churches can still be found here.

Saint-Hilaire de Melle was the church of a priory, depending from the large Benedictian abbey in Saint-Jean-d’Angély. It was built on the banks of the Beronne river. The eastern part (apse, the radiating chapels and transept) were built in the first half of the 12th century, while the nave and the western portals may be some decades younger. This is the southern wall of the nave. There is an elaborate carved southern portal of which a small part can be seen from this pov.