5. Les Andelys to Vernon

Contemporary of Château-Gaillard, it dates from 1202, and has a structure in the shape of a Greek cross. It escaped destruction by becoming a storage place during the revolution.  Note the 13th century statue of the blessing Christ on the outside. The choir is gothic, and the organ D'Ingoult dates from 1674.
We invite you to visit the collegiate church Notre-Dame du Grand Andelys. Built in 1225 on the ruins of a women's abbey founded in 511 by Saint Clotilde, wife of Clovis I, it is the oldest attested monastery foundation in Upper Normandy.

The history of the site begins in Gallo-Roman times with the creation of the village of the Andelys.
Richard the Lionheart, King of England and Duke of Normandy, seduced by the position of the site, had Château Gaillard built on a cliff to protect the duchy and Rouen, its capital. A true masterpiece of military architecture ahead of its time, the fortress was not able to withstand the assaults of Philip Augustus in 1204. Taken over by the English during the Hundred Years' War, the fort was definitively abandoned in the face of artillery advances. Stone quarry from 1603, its dismantling ended in 1611.
These majestic ruins of Château-Gaillard inspired the English Romantics, Impressionist painters, poets and contemporary writers.
More info: Wikipedia

Tradition claims that Saint Ethbin, an Armorican monk who died in Ireland in the 6th century, was buried in the 7th century in the monastery of Port Mort, which was destroyed in the 9th century.
His relics are preserved in a chapel dedicated to him in the church of St Peter (1875). Twice a year, on the Sunday after the Ascension and on October 20th, many pilgrims, after passing under the relics exposed at the church door, went in procession to the dolmen where the holy man was supposed to be buried. Once there, they bowed under the stone and crossed it piously, with the aim of obtaining the healing of their kidney ailments.
Around 1868, excavations were undertaken under the dolmen by Father Lecoq, the parish priest of Guiseniers, and human bones were found there. Two years later, the poor condition of the monument justifies in the eyes of the parish priest of Port-Mort, Abbé Bostel, its destruction and replacement by a new monument. According to de Pulligny, the blocks of the dolmen were used as foundations for the new place of pilgrimage.

Tradition claims that Saint Ethbin, an Armorican monk who died in Ireland in the 6th century, was buried in the 7th century in the monastery of Port Mort, which was destroyed in the 9th century.
His relics are preserved in a chapel dedicated to him in the church of St Peter (1875). Twice a year, on the Sunday after the Ascension and on October 20th, many pilgrims, after passing under the relics exposed at the church door, went in procession to the dolmen where the holy man was supposed to be buried. Once there, they bowed under the stone and crossed it piously, with the aim of obtaining the healing of their kidney ailments.
Around 1868, excavations were undertaken under the dolmen by Father Lecoq, the parish priest of Guiseniers, and human bones were found there. Two years later, the poor condition of the monument justifies in the eyes of the parish priest of Port-Mort, Abbé Bostel, its destruction and replacement by a new monument. According to de Pulligny, the blocks of the dolmen were used as foundations for the new place of pilgrimage.

The church of the parish of Saint-Pierre de Port-Mort, dating from the 15th / 16th century, was located within the walls of the present cemetery, rue du Port. The axis of the church was directed north-west; it consisted of a wide nave and a rectangular choir to the south-east of which rose the square tower of the bell tower. The windows were flamboyant late 15th century style bays. It was sold in 1880 to a demolition company after the construction of the present church. Of the original building only the bell tower cross and a column have been preserved, both kept in the cemetery, and four 16th century stained glass windows, which were restored in 1875 and incorporated into the new church.

Historical monument, the collegiate church of Notre Dame is considered one of the most beautiful specimens of medieval architecture in France. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, it is composed of different architectural styles: the choir and the transept are in Romanesque style while the rest of the building was rebuilt in different Gothic styles (radiant, flamboyant and late Gothic). Inside the building, you will discover an organ dating from the beginning of the 17th century and restored in 1979. Magnificent abstract stained glass windows were installed in the 1970s to replace those destroyed during the Second World War.