4. Beaugency to Mer

The present church was rebuilt around 1835 on the site of an 11th century church.
From the old church, on the north side remains the jamb of a 12th century portal with a small column, patched up in 1611, and to the left of it an 11th century coat hanger with small wedges. These remains are probable replacements used during the reconstruction of the church, which was destroyed in the early 15th or mid-14th centuries by English troops. This reconstruction was probably undertaken only after the liberation of Orléans by Joan of Arc in 1429.
After the Revolution, the dilapidation was such that the complete reconstruction of the church was decided upon.
The church is closed.

Private property, not open to the public.
The castle first belonged to the de Mineray family before being bought by Jacques de Béziade in 1621. In 1737, the fortified castle rebuilt in 1474 was replaced by the current building, only the moat and two corner towers are preserved. In 1791, one of the lord's sons helped the Count of Provence, one of the King's brothers, the future Louis XVIII, to escape. During the Restoration, the King did not forget his companion in exile and raised him to the title of Duke and Peer of France. Under the chapel called "tribune" of the castle, there is a vault opened in 1824, which has 11 coffins: the first is that of Louis XVIII's companion in exile, the last, that of Antoine de Béziade, Marquis of Avaray and last descendant of the lineage, who died in 1921.

The church of Saint-Saturnin de Courbouzon was a priory of the Beaugency Abbey before the Revolution. The square bell tower dates from the 16th century, the belfry is later, the rest of the church was rebuilt in the 19th century. There is only one large nave, extended by a semicircular choir. The chapel to the left of the bell tower houses the baptismal font. The double axial bay was built at the beginning of the 20th century.

The hamlet of Herbilly, near the town of Mer, was attached to the latter in 1808. Its church stands on the central square. In 1944, a bombing seriously damaged it. The present building is the result of a restoration carried out in 1955, which focused largely on the Romanesque nave. The church consists of a single nave, elongated in the 15th century, with a portal in the flamboyant style (walled), and an unvaulted apse. To the south rises the bell tower, built in the 16th century, with oblique buttresses at each corner, bays on all its sides and a portal to the south. The chapel disappeared in 1944.
The first church dates from the 12th century and was rebuilt in the 15th century.

The church of Saint-Hilaire in the commune of Mer is a building built in the 12th century but which was remodelled in the 16th century, for the bell-tower-porch, and in 1700 for the rest of the building.
The latter consists of a flamboyant, high-quality bell-tower-porch with exceptional mouldings (foliage hooks and pinnacles), a vast panelled nave ending in a three-sided apse and two chapels on the south side.
The wainscoting is classified as a Historic Monument.
As you leave the church, admire the old town hall in its 19th century style.