HISTORICAL WALK AROUND THE FAUBOURG DE DESSUS* or
SAINTE QUITTERIE DE LA BASTIDE*
BLUE ROUTE
SITE 3
SAINTE QUITTERIE CHURCH

This is a very old church in the Rivière-Basse areawhich was already mentioned in a   document dating back to the first half of the 12th century.Sainte Quitterie church was the church of the first centre of population in the Rive-Haute area (Ripa Alta) and then that of the bastide of Plaisance ater it was founded in 1322. From the Middle Ages until the French Revolution it was a dependency of La Case-Dieu priory which had to provide for its maintenance and appointed its priests, all of them being Canons regular of the Premonstratensians.

    Located extra-muros, in the suburb upstream, Sancta Quitteyra church was destroyed several times. In 1355 the bastide was sacked by the Black Prince (the king of England's son) and the church destroyed. Again in 1560 by the Protestant troops of Montgomery. Badly maintained by the monks of la Case Dieu, it ws often forbidden to use it. In 1788 it was decided to rebuild it. A stone with the date, set in the churchyard wall near the entrance, confirms the fact.The reconstruction was either completed or interrupted in 1793. As the population constantly grew in the first 25 years of the 19th century it quickly became too small for the larger congregation.There were thoughts to enlarge it but the space did not permit. So the final decision was to have a new one built on a new site, but it took 30 years to come to this conclusion. It is now the Immaculate Conception church started in 1854 and consecrated in1862. It is the «  daughter  » of the former churches in Plaisance which have now completely disappeared since the two stainedglass windows in the high chapel represent the two patron saints of the parish, Saint Nicholas and Sainte Quitterie. Despite a petition signed by many old familiesin the area demanding the conservation of the old church, the local councillors decided to have it pulled down and use the stones to build the soireof the new church.

    In the present church  of Plaisance you can see a 15th century «  culot  » representing an angel carrying a shield with a coat of arms which used to be in a chapel of the old Sancta Quitteyra (given by the Labadie family).

    You will also note  two marble capitals from la Case-Dieu priory (14th century)  in the church.           

•    faubourg  : suburb
•    de dessus  : upstream
•    bastide  : a walled town in the South West of France