Description of Towns and Villages in Gers and Surrounding Départements

The Gers

Gascony's rolling hills and country lanes

Aignan

Aignan, the first residence of the counts and therefore first capital of Armagnac, has traditional houses and an arcaded square. Now it is an important commercial centre for brandy with a cooperative which can be visited. Map of Aignan

The stairway from the river to the old town of Auch and its cathedral

Auch

Auch is centrally placed in the département, and midway between Aquitaine and Languedoc, on an escarpment above the River Gers. The greatest monument of Auch the late Gothic cathedral, stands silhouetted against the sky with the ville haute or old town clutching at its skirts. Narrow medieval lanes contrast with the elegant 18th Century Allées d'Etigny and monumental steps descend to the river. The modern city of Auch is a major, market town and Préfecture of the Gers, and has spread out onto the plain in the Gers valley. Map of Auch and Auch Tourist Information

Barran

North of Mirande, Barran is a well-kept bastide, close to Auch, with golden stone houses and a good market square. It also has a strangely contorted church spire covered in grey slate which, although very celebrated, is less than satisfactory: it twists irregularly and looks suspiciously like a case of warped timbers. Map of Barran

Bassoues

The massive keep (43 m) of the village of Bassoues signals an important bastide founded by the Archbishops of Auch in 1279, not far from a monastery acquired in the 13th Century. The other major curiosity is the beautiful 16th Century timber-framed halle which straddles the road. Map of Bassoues

The covered market square at Cologne

Cologne

East of Mauvezin, at Cologne, is arguably one of the prettiest bastide squares and covered markets. Wide-open and spacious, it is surrounded by houses harmoniously combining brick, stone and timber, all well restored, the oldest on the north and south. Map of Cologne

Condom

Condom is the major town of the Gers and capital of the Ténarèze, the central section of the département. Refreshed by the Baïse River, used in the 19th Century for transporting valuable cargoes of Armagnac to Bordeaux, the town is still one of the three main brandy centres, along with Auch and Eauze, and has handsome 17th- and 18th-Century white stone hôtels particuliers reminiscent of Bordeaux. It is variously described as the town of seven churches or of a hundred towers (supposedly 100 fortified residences were built by 100 noble families). The most important church now is the former cathedral of St-Pierre. Map of Condom

Eauze

Eauze was the ancient city of the Elusates people. Elusa became one of the three main political, administrative and commercial centres, with Auch and Lectoure, during Roman occupation of Novempopulame. The busy commercial town was created by Charles IX in the 16th Century when he granted the right to hold a market. Now the Armagnac capital, Eauze holds an Armagnac fair in Ascension week and is one of sev¬eral towns in Bas Armagnac which hold corridas. Map of Eauze

Fleurance

Fleurance, situated on the Gers River, south of Lectoure, and conveniently located between Agen and Auch, is one of the best-known bastides and one of the main commercial centres of the Gers today. The co-founder, Eustache de Beaumarchais, was instrumental in the creation of many bastides in Gascony and the Toulousain, often naming his foundations after foreign towns (e.g. Pampelonne, Grenade, Cologne). Map of Fleurance

Fourcès

One of the most enchanting bastides in the Gers is the little circular village of Fourcès north of Montréal. A bridge over the Auzoue leads into the centre under the watchful eye of the 16th-Century château, now an elegant hotel. This tiny community has only about 350 inhabitants but is decked out in blooms during the flower festival on the last weekend of April.

The old houses, some with arcades and others half-timbered, which go back to the 13th and 14th Centuries, link arms to enclose the plane-shaded central square. Map of Fourcès

Gimont

Gimont is the only town in France where a main road runs straight through the middle of the covered market. Founded by the Cistercian abbey of Planselve in 1266, as a paréage with Alphonse de Poitiers, Gimont clings to a narrow promontory above the Gimone River, hence the constricted layout. Originally surrounded by arcades, the massive market hall has 28 octagonal piers supporting a timber roof, and was heightened and rebuilt in the 19th Century. Map of Gimont

La Romieu

The two towers of the church high above the countryside signal La Romieu, a walled village of just over 540 inhabitants on the site of a Benedictine abbey founded, so it is said, by two monks returning from Rome c. 1062. The village's name, from the Latin romaeus meaning pilgrims, was first mentioned in 1082. It was granted bastide status in the 14th Century. Map of La Romieu

Larressingle

From a distance, the bluff mass of the walls and battlemented towers of Larressingle, a short distance west of Condom, is an extraordinary sight described locally as a pocket-sized Carcassonne. The church was fortified in the 12th Century and later a 270m rampart was thrown around the church and castle, surrounded by a ditch. Map of Larressingle

Lavardens

Lavardens, a picturesque Gascon village clinging to a rocky bluff, was a stronghold of the Counts of Armagnac in the 13th Century and was inherited in 1496 by Marguerite d'Angoulême. The streets are narrow and steep and five of the old towers of the enceinte still survive. The huge château which dominates the village was dismantled by Henri of Navarre's troops in 1577. Map of Lavardens

Lectoure

Between the Rivers Gers and Garonne is the Lomagne, a former duchy of Gascony, astride the meeting point of the Gers, Tarn-et-Garonne and Lot-et-Garonne. An important agricultural area famed for the production of white garlic, its main town is Lectoure.

Lectoure is at ease behind its refined and genteel Neoclassical façades, and solid as the narrow ridge of rock that it is built upon. Map of Lectoure

L'isle-Jourdain

This is a relatively important town of around 5,000 people which was once the capital of the lands belonging to the de l'Isle family. The town has two squares. The older, Place Gambetta-called the marcadieu-with arcades on two sides, is on the edge of the route built by the Intendant of Auch, d'Etigny. The other square contains the late 18th-Century Hôtel de Ville, a sophisticated Italianate building in brick with a rusticated ground floor and wrought-iron balconies above. Adjacent is the Neoclassical brick market hall (1819), with a mass of elegant octagonal pillars. Map of L'isle-Jourdain

Lombez

The community of Lombez is gathered around the Cathedral of Ste-Marie which shares the square with a fine covered market with brick pillars, and its walls with the houses to the south. Map of Lombez

Lupiac

Lupiac is a modest village with a large square and timber arcades, described as the berceau d'Artagnan at the heart of the Pays d'Artagnan. The villages around here have capitalised on Alexandre Dumas' hero because the man behind the myth, Charles de Batz-Castelmore, was born some time between 1610 and 1620 at the Château of Castelmore (privately owned) about 4km north of Lupiac. Map of Lupiac

Marciac

One of the best-known villages in the region is Marciac, a quiet 13th-Century bastide where the population of around 1,200 increases massively each August for the annual jazz festival founded in 1979. The crocketed spire of Notre-Dame-de-Marciac marks one of the loveliest churches in the Gers, built in yellow stone in the 14th Century to the east of the main square. Map of Marciac and Marciac Tourist Information. Site of Jazz in Marciac

Mauvezin

North of the Auch-Toulouse road is Mauvezin, a village on a hill between the Arratz and the Gimone rivers. It was once an important stronghold but in the 17th Century the castle was divided up and the fortifications dismantled. It is laid out around a vast empty square surrounded by mainly 18th-Century whitish limestone houses, with the 14th-Century market hall on stone piers to one side. Map of Mauvezin

Miélan

A medieval bastide town, founded in 1248. The small square retains its original, wooden frame arcades and the central, stone-built Mairie. Miélan has a range of shops and amenities including cafés, bakers, butchers, greengrocer, maison de press, hairdressers and a small market every Thursday morning. Map of Miélan

Miradoux

The oldest bastide in the Gers, Miradoux, was founded in 1253. It has an imposing but battered church, with a bare west end except for one rose and a pedimented Renaissance doorway. Across from the church is the Hôtel de Ville and built up against it a 16th-Century market hall. Map of Miradoux

Mirande

Mirande on the banks of the Baïse is one of the largest and best-preserved of the bastides of southern Gers. It was conceived in 1281 as a partage between the Counts and the Abbots of Berdoues, and was the old capital of the Astarac, and later a garrison town. The town's outstanding feature is the massive porch-tower of the church, straddling the street. The large square is surrounded by arcades in warm yellowish stone and has a pretty bandstand in the middle. Map of Mirande

Montesquiou

Montesquiou, a picturesque village with an aristocratic name and home of the maternal family of d'Artagnan, is a small castelnau on a hill with a medieval fortified gate. Map of Montesquiou

Montréal

Montreal, built on an escarpment, was one of the first bastides founded in Gascony, in 1256. By the time it was finished in 1289 it was already under English domination. It has the typical regular layout with a central square, arcades and a large church off-centre, with aisles and primitive capitals and corbels in the east, bearing the scars of Protestant iconoclasm, particularly around the south door. Map of Montréal

Mouchan

Mouchan, southwest of Condom, has a small but satisfying 12th-Century church in the typical yellowish-orange stone of the region with an 11th-Century square tower, all that remains of the former Cluniac priory of St-Austrigile. Map of Mouchan

Nogaro

Nogaro is the small rural capital of Bas Armagnac. It has two particular attractions: motor racing in April and September, at the Circuit Paul-Armagnac; and an interesting church. It is a village with plenty of half-timbered houses and the oldest Armagnac distillery; it is also well-known for courses landaise held every three years. Map of Nogaro

Samatan

The small town of Samatan is the location for the most famous of all the marchés au gras (foie gras markets) in the region. Although not for the squeamish, these are reassuring indications of the ritualistic importance that the French still put on the production, selection and purchase of food. Map of Samatan

Simorre

The formidable brick church of Simorre, further south, now stands in a large empty square but was once part of a Benedictine community, its abbey documented since the 9th Century. After it was destroyed by fire c. 1140, the present site was chosen. Some 600m of walls and a ditch protected the religious as well as the secular community, both under the control of the abbots. Map of Simorre

Solomiac

Solomiac is a late bastide (13th Century) on the Gimone with a 14th-Century market hall and 15th-16th-Century couverts around it. Map of Solomiac

St Clar

St-Clar, south of Gramont (seep. 375), is a bastide on a hill, founded jointly in 1289 by Edward I of England and the Bishop of Lectoure, Géraud de Monlezun, on the site of an earlier sauveté; this resulted in two arcaded squares corresponding to the different periods of development. The older area, the Castelviel, is now partly restored.

The later bastide has retained its original orthogonal layout around the main square with a covered market hall, which consists of a simple roof supported by timber posts, contiguous with the rebuilt maison commune (19th Century). Map of St Clar

St Mont

St-Mont is the most interesting village of the Madiran, with a cooperative winery, the Union des Producteurs Plaimont. As its name suggests the village is perched on a hill and overlooks the Adour Valley. There are pretty pebble and brick houses lining the street up to the tall stone church at the summit, which has conserved a small number of remarkable Romanesque capitals. Map of St Mont

St Puy

At the many-times rebuilt Château de Monluc at St-Puy, you can discover more about wine, Armagnac and the Armagnac-based liqueur, pousse-rapière, a potent aperitif, in its beautiful vaulted cellars. Map of St Puy

Tillac

Tillac, to the southeast, is a perfect 13th-Century castelnau with a narrow arcaded street bordered with timber-framed houses, two ancient town gateways with towers, and a 14th-Century church. Map of Tillac

Valence-sur-Baïse

Valence-sur-Balse is a 13th-Century bastide founded by the Comte d'Armagnac, with a 14th-Century church. This was the land of Biaise de Monluc (1500-77), Maréchal de France, whose Commentaires were written partly in response to the reputation he acquired for his harsh treatment of the Protestants during the Wars of Religion when he was attempting to quell disturbances in Guyenne. Map of Valence-sur-Baïse

Vic Fezensac

On the Osse River in the centre of Gascony is the small town of Vic-Fézensac, a popular centre for tourism and best known for the Whitsun corrida. The medieval town was divided between the Counts of Armagnac and the archbishops of Auch, causing constant tension. In the 18th Century the town was physically cut in two when Baron d'Etigny drove the main road through the middle of the old market square. Map of Vic-Fézensac

Tarn-et-Garonne

Beaumont-de-Lomagne

Beaumont-de-Lomagne is a pleasant bourgade with a mighty 14th-Century covered market supported by a veritable forest of timbers. In the square is a statue to the mathematician Pierre Fermât (1601-65), who was born here and lived in the building now used by the Tourist Office.

The castle-like church has a beautiful Toulousain-style belfry built 1390-1480. Beaumont has important markets for the high-quality white garlic grown in the Lomagne. Map of Beaumont-de-Lomagne

Lot-et-Garonne

Nérac

The old buildings clustered around the remains of Henri IV's château on the left bank of the Baïse at Nérac create a picturesque ensemble. This town draws the crowds for its historic associations with France's favourite monarch, although the remains of the Château de Nérac are relatively modest. The river carves a wide course here on its way north and is spanned by two bridges, new and old. Map of Nérac

Hautes-Pyrénées

Trie-sur-Baïse

To the southeast is Trie-sur-Baïse, which had one of the largest pork markets in France and is still known for the annual competition to find the person who can produce a sound most like a pig. This bastide was founded in 1323 by Jean de Trie and has kept its original layout despite pillage by the English in 1356 and destruction in 1569 during the Wars of Religion. The very large central square has a graceful 19th-Century iron halle encompassing the stone Mairie. Map of Trie-sur-Baïse

Haute-Garonne

L'Isle-en-Dodon

L'Isle-en-Dodon, on the Save, is a classic bastide with a central square surrounded by arcades; a Neoclassical brick Hôtel de Ville and halle, and several timber-framed houses. The 14th-Century church has a fortified east end with battlemented towers and an octagonal belfry over the west porch. Map of L'Isle-en-Dodon

Review of Blue Guide, Southwest France

We know of no better guide to our region than Delia Gray-Durant's Blue Guide to Southwest France. This essential companion for the house-hunter or tourist provides information on most towns and villages, as well as a valuable introduction to the history and customs of the area.

We are indebted to Somerset Books Company for permission to publish extracts that describe most of the locations of the houses we market. The guide itself contains so much more, including detailed information on important buildings, archaeological sites, museums and galleries.

More information about the guide to southwest France at Blue Guides