5000 years ago ...

This is the Priory of St Michel de Grandmont. It's old, but not that old, for these parts. It was built to house an order of monks who showed their devotion by enduring hardships like no shoes, no heating, no windows and no talking, but it hasn't been used as a priory for a couple of hundred years.

The site is so beautiful though, that they certainly weren't visually deprived.



But what's really interesting about this place is what came before. The priory was built on the site of an 8th century church. This in turn was built on the site of a Gallo-Roman church - parts of this were incorporated in the later buildings - here are the Gallo-Roman pillars holding up the cloister walls, and there is an altar dedicated to Jupiter in the entrance.



There was also once a Visigoth graveyard on the site.

The area around the priory is also home to a number of Neolithic dolmens - we were too early to get the guided tour so we walked round the perimeter of the park and peered through the fence, so we could really only see this one



It's the best one on the site, however, and if you click on the link above and scroll down they have a picture of it from the front, showing the neat little doorway. The site is in French but they have great graphics, it's worth a look if you are interested.

These stone structures date back to between 2,000 and 5,000 years BC.

Had enough history? Actually I have one more thing for you. Also found on the Grandmont site last century were fossilised animal footprints - they were made by dinosaur ancestors, 160 million years or so ago.

Puts things into perspective, doesn't it.