Informations directionnelles

Emprunter la rue Cour Céleste en contrebas de la croix. Prendre à gauche dans la rue Bernard-Dauchez jusqu’à la ferme du même nom.

Les croix

Around ten crosses dotted across the landscape

 

 

Commemorative and religious crosses...

Three crosses are directly linked to the catholic faith: the cross in the cemetery, which embodies divine protection, the Croix d’Estréez, bearing a large figure of Christ and the Croix d’Archemont, with a stone base and a metal figure of Christ. A commemorative cross was erected in 1812 in the grounds of the Château de Magnitot. It is placed over bones from the tombs of the chapel, desecrated during the revolution. All these crosses date from the 19th century.

Only fragments remain of the Croix Dame Alix. This massive hard stone cross had octagonal arms, with a deeply embedded cross shape in the centre, as though it once held an incrusted ornament. Its name refers to a woman who lived in the 7th or 8th century, in the Hallincourt estate in Parnes.

 

 

...and demarcation crosses

Numerous crosses also stand at the sides of roads and at crossroads, in rural areas, streets and town squares. This is the predominant kind of cross in Saint-Gervais: Croix de Ducourt, Croix Bouteillé and Croix Saint Jean. Among these demarcation crosses, two cross pattées are listed, one of which is no longer in the town of Saint-Gervais, but now in Parnes (the Haute Croix) after the town borders were redrawn. The term “pattée” indicates a cross with short arms of equal length with very wide ends. These crosses were used as markers to indicate the boundaries of farming plots and territories. Most date from the 12th and 13th centuries. The Croix Lançon is located north-west of the hamlet of Ducourt. This cross pattée marked the crossroads of several routes which have since disappeared.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Villa Marguerite overtook the church tower as the highest building in the village. The town centre, dotted with isolated trees, thickets, orchids and on the edge, hedgerows, remains leafy and green.