France for Culture -Languedoc's Circulade Villages

Relatively recently some unusual treasures were discovered on the Languedoc plain. Despite sitting there for all to see, they went unnoticed for 1,000 years until a Polish architect pointed them out. The ‘treasures’ are a series of ancient villages that were formed in a circular pattern around a focal point.

Unlike the bastides of south-west France where the street pattern is in a grid format, these circulades are formed by concentric circles of streets and houses – like wheels within wheels.

It was in the early 1990s that Polish academic Krzysztof Pawlowski first noticed some unusual circular villages in the Montpellier-Béziers-Carcassonne triangle. He coined the word circulade to describe them and discovered around 70 of them.

Circulades were created to provide the community with some basic defence. In the centre was a castle or church, often built on a natural mound, and each circle of inward facing houses acted as a rudimentary rampart to stop or delay attackers. Beyond the outer ring of houses would have been defensive ditches or sometimes a wall. Remains of these can be seen from the air.

All circulades date from the same epoch and are around 1,000 years old. As such they are the first examples of urban planning in Europe, pre-dating the grid-patterned bastides by about 200 years.

Pawlowski’s 70 or so circulades can be found throughout Languedoc-Roussillon, but there are two distinct clusters, one in the Aude département near Carcassonne and another in the Hérault département around Pézenas.

As there are no official routes des circulades we have created one through each cluster to enable you to explore and compare these thousand-year-old treasures hidden in the Languedoc-Roussillon countryside.

Route through the circulades of the Aude département

One of the easiest ways to explore circulades is in the country to the south and west of Carcassonne. Start at Alairac to the south-west of Carcassonne where you can park your car inside the circulade – if you can find your way in. Built on a hillock, Alairac has a beautiful old church with an octagonal belfry. When Simon de Montfort was cleansing the area of its Cathars in 1210 he besieged Alairac for 11 days, but the villagers crept from a back door in the dead of night and escaped.

From Alairac, climb your way up to the Bois de las Mounjos then down the snaking D43 to Montclar – another village that was seized by de Montfort – he gave it to one of his lieutenants, Philippe de Golan. Eight centuries later it still has its three concentric circles of houses. Take a short detour to nearby Preixan – a rugby ball-shaped circulade with a mass of houses separated by tiny ruelles in between.

Then head south past Limoux to la Digne-d’Aval a circulade with two rings of houses separated by a wide space between as though a whole circle of buildings has disappeared. Nearby Loupia on the D626 has a similar wide space between the houses which has been planted with trees – it gives the village a completely different feel to almost all other circulades.

Take the back road that heads from the north side of Loupia to Donazac where you will find a small circulade that looks like a giant letter ‘C’ from the air. The central area is completely open as if the original church or castle has been razed to the ground. The large circular place makes a great space for village fêtes.

To the north is Alaigne nestled below the Pic des Trois Seigneurs. Here you will find a remarkably well-preserved circle of houses. The village dates back to the 9th century when there was a small convent on the site. Look out for la Porte de Pépy and don’t miss the 14th-century church.

Just to the west along some twisting roads with fine panoramic views is Bellegarde-du-Razès. This hilltop village was once surrounded by defensive ditches – in those days there were only two entrances – one to the east, the other to the west. Parts of the ramparts remain but only a few traces of the original feudal castle can be seen. Bellegarde was another of the fortified villages that was besieged and captured by the infamous Simon de Montfort.

Continue north through Mazerolles-du-Razès to the circulades of Cailhau, Cailhavel and Villeneuve-lès-Montréal. Cailhau had four or five concentric circles of houses and the ancient hedgerows and lanes follow the circular pattern indicating that the village was once considerably larger. Cailhavel has kept its circular form but many of the houses have disappeared over the years.

All that remains of Villeneuve-lès-Montréal’s circulade is the tiny central circle of houses. But further north, Bram is perhaps the finest example of any circulade with three rings of concentric streets around the central church.

Now a much-expanded village, the original circular nest of houses remains remarkably intact. There are half a dozen parking spaces alongside the church in the centre, but reaching them is like driving through a labyrinth.

Circuit of circulades in Hérault

In the popular holiday département of Hérault there are many circulades to discover. Few remain as the perfect circles they started as, and most have grown far beyond their original circular form. Here is a circuit of discovery of circulades in the Pézenas area that takes in some really lovely circular villages.

Start at Roujan, a small town that started life as a circulade. The original circle has been cut into by the D13 but the original street pattern is still there. One of the reasons this is a good starting point is the excellent bed and breakfast accommodation offered by Le Couvent where Lizzie and Ali’s warm welcome will make you want to stay a while. Another reason is the good value set-lunch served under the colourful parasols of Le Grand Café.

Just five kilometres west is Fouzilhon, a much smaller circulade that retains its outer ring of houses; over the last thousand years many of the buildings within have disappeared.

Magalas, a few kilometres down the D174, is bigger and more intact. Built on a hilltop and surrounded by vineyards, Magalas is worth a stop for its two art galleries, bell-ringing museum and restaurants.

Cross the main road to Béziers to the west and you arrive at Saint-Geniès-de-Fontedit, a circulade that is more kidney bean-shaped than round. The church here dates back to the 14th century, but the green glazed tiles of the belfry have only been a feature for the last 50 years. South west of Saint-Geniès-de-Fontedit is Murviel-lès-Béziers with its lovely narrow streets that spiral around the seigneural castle. Call in at the Tourist Office for a leaflet that provides a guided walk.

Puimisson lies a few kilometres due east of Murviel-lès-Béziers and to reach it you need to drive through Thèzan-lès-Béziers, a small town that doesn’t register on the circulade radar, yet right at its heart it is clearly built to the same pattern. Puimisson has grown beyond its original circular form, but on its eastern outskirts the original defensive circle is well preserved. Parking is easy and there is a pavement café by the main street into the circulade.

The next village along the D33, Puissalicon, is a lovely example. Built around a feudal castle it has retained its original concentric pattern and is a delight to walk around. About one kilometre before the village there is a remarkable Romanesque tower in the village cemetery – it is a vestige of a former priory. But for the best example of a château within a circulade travel a little further east to Margon. Here, the three slate-topped pepper-pot turrets of the château gracefully stand above the village. Occupied by the same family for nearly 300 years Margon’s château is one of the prettiest in the area.

South east of Margon is Alignan-du-Vent, a well preserved example of a circular village with a bustling Saturday market. From here, skirt around Pézenas to Nézignan-l’Évêque which lies just to the south. Built originally around a castle, only a few remnants of the ramparts remain. Much of the stone was snaffled up by locals and used in their houses. Certainly those that cluster around the church are all the more impressive for their recycling of the château’s stones. Nézignan earned its l’Évêque (bishop) tag from the time when it was owned by the wealthy bishops of Agde. Today it could well be called Nézignan-les-Figues as it has long been the capital of fig growing.

It seems the bishops of Agde liked several retreats, for they also had a residence at the next circulade on our trail – Saint-Pons-de-Mauchiens. From Nézignan wend your way to Florensac, take the D51 parallel to the motorway before following the signs to the Abbaye de Valmagne and then on to Saint-Pons-de-Mauchiens. Built up on a rocky spur, Saint-Pons has a 12th-century church and some pretty medieval streets within its ramparts. The neighbouring village of Saint-Pargoire is also a circulade.

Continue from here along the quiet D131 through Vendémian to Le Pouget – a much-expanded village with a circulade at its heart – before heading south again through Bélarga to Paulhan (pictured left). This sprawling village has at its heart an ancient circulade that is remarkably intact. Local legend has it that a settlement grew up here by a Roman road because the sunny plain and nearby River Hérault appealed to a high-ranking Roman with the unfortunate name of Paulianus. Certainly the castle on the hill was mentioned back in 880 and the village was variously patronised by the Benedictines, the viscounts of Béziers, the counts of Maugio and the seigneurs of Montpellier. Even the kings of Majorca came here before selling the village to the De Veyrac family who owned it for 400 years.

As well as the medieval houses in the circulade, it is worth seeing the church of Notre-Dame des Vertus, a Romanesque gem dating back 1,000 years. Every October Paulhan holds its Fête de la Circulade in the old quarter.

Our circuit continues through Adissan to Nizas, an elliptical circulade, before reaching Caux. Built on a rock, the village of Caux is a really fine example of a circulade with its ancient houses gathered around a belltower.

Wander around the ancient streets and keep an eye out for some magnificent Lombard doors, ancient mullions and transoms. There are plenty of places to sit in the shade and try the delicious Vin de Pays de Caux, and if you happen to be around during the last weekend of October you can enjoy the Fête du Vin Nouveau. Roujan, the starting point for our Hérault circuit is only five kilometres to the west.

Life in a circulade

Silver-haired Madame Lelarge was sitting on a sturdy rush-bottomed stool by her front step in the inner ring of houses of Nézignan-l’Évêque’s circulade. I asked her what it was like living in the round.

“Because we all look inwards it’s like being on the front row at the circus. We see everything that’s going on, everyone that comes and goes. It makes us very close as neighbours – we’re like a village within a village. There would never be any problem with crime here as nobody could enter these old circular streets without being noticed.

Madame Lelarge has lived in Nézignan for more than 30 years but when I seemed impressed by that she pointed out that some of her neighbours were living in houses once occupied by their grandparents and had lived there all their lives. When I asked her if she would swap her circulade home for a modern house with a garden she shook her head and said with a smile, “No, never. I would miss the sights and sounds of this circular row of ancient houses, I would miss the camaraderie and the neighbourliness but most of all I would miss sitting here in the front row of an ever-changing circus of everyday life.”

Round up

Google Earth

The best way to appreciate the concentricity of the circulades is to view them from above. Thanks to modern technology and software, we can do that quite easily from our home computers. Google Earth software is available as a free download and is easy to use. It views the earth from inner space and allows the user to zoom in for a bird’s-eye view of practically anywhere.

As a starter, search for Bram in the Aude département, then zoom in using the scroll button on your mouse. Such is the resolution of Bram on Google Earth that you will see the original village like a Catherine wheel with its concentric circles of streets and houses, and you can even see parked cars. Among other Aude circulades viewed in high resolution are Alairac, Cailhu, Cailhavel, Montclar and Preixan.

Satellite views let you act like an amateur archeologist so when zooming in to villages such as Cailhu you can see that it was once considerably larger than it appears today. What’s more, with a little patience you can discover other circular villages not on the official lists – scroll north-east of Preixan for example and you can see that Couffoulens must also be a circulade.

Google Earth is a broadband, 3D application. The software is available as a free download at http://earth.google.com/ download-earth.html. Computers more than four years old may not be able to run it.

Bibliography

Circulades languedociennes de l’an mille — Naissance de l’urbanisme européen, Krzysztof Pawlowski, 1992.