Randonnée Aiffres – Circuit de Mairé
Route details
Description
Happy hiking and remember that you are not alone on the trails you are about to travel. We therefore invite you to respect nature: avoid picking flowers and plants, do not leave any trash behind, respect inhabited places, stay on the trails, keep dogs on a leash.
Your itinerary
Step 1: Aiffres
Its geographical location located at the gateway to the Atlantic or the Marais Poitevin, its infrastructure and its shops give an urban and rural vitality to this small town of 5.600 inhabitants. With its residential appeal, Aiffres places an important place on culture and community life. The unmissable Aiffricades and its Spring Carnival highlight the city with its St-Pierre church and its 6.000th century Hosannière cross, classified as a Historic Monument. By bike or on foot, on the hiking trails, discover the trails of the Mairé circuit. Located near the Silver Mines of the Pays Mellois, organize your stay over XNUMX years of history.
Step 2: Church of the former parish of Mairé
In the 1927th century, the church, land and vineyards were given to the monks of Saint-Cyprien de Poitiers by Guillaume and his wife Arsinde to deserve a more secure place in Paradise. Remodeled in the XNUMXth century, the sanctuary was sold to the Niort merchant Pierre Dubois at the end of the XNUMXth century. In XNUMX, it was listed as a Historic Monument. It's a barn today.
The church has a single nave with two bays having lost its apse. The vaults have mostly fallen, but the framework appears very old and the capitals of the columns remain almost intact. The buttresses of the south facade have been removed. The west facade opens with a door with columns with sculpted capitals and archivolts. This facade ends with a gable which included an openwork belfry.
Step 3: Panorama of Niort
The view extends over Aiffres and Niort, including the belfry of the Town Hall, the bell towers of the 3 churches: Saint-Hilaire, Saint-André and Notre-Dame.
Step 4: The old washhouse of Bas Mairé
The old Bas Mairé washhouse is not fed by a stream. Water had to be pumped “by hand” from the well to supply the pools.
Step 5: La Motte Saint-Denis
“La Motte Saint-Denis” is the vestige of an ancient castle. It would have been the seat of an important feudal center. A pile of coins was discovered here, the oldest dating from 1559. Private property, hidden under the trees, it can only be accessed with authorization.
Step 6: Saint-Pierre Romanesque Church
The Romanesque church of Saint-Pierre is from the 4th century. Only the walls, the side chapel and the semi-circular portal are original, the bell tower is from the XNUMXth century. In the middle of the cemetery stands a Hosannière cross dating from the XNUMXth century: a shaft with XNUMX cross-shaped columns, around ten meters high, with a reading tablet at its base. It was a place of celebration where the Gospel was read during the Palm Sunday festival.