Chemin des Treize Places de Puiseaux

Start and finish at Place du Martroi, next to the market hall.
Take care when crossing roads.

(S/E) Head towards the church and pass the beautiful town hall on your right. Take the street that runs alongside the church on the left. At the end, turn right and you will arrive at Place Saint-Jean. Go down Rue Blanchard. Continue downhill. At the stop sign, you will find Place de la Mézière. Immediately take the street on the right towards a shaded car park.

(1) At Place des Déportés, note the magnificent Tour Rely on your right, one of the last remaining vestiges of the ramparts. Take the first road on your left, Rue du Brissard. Continue until you reach Place du Brissard. At the end of the square, take the street on your left and you will arrive at Rue du Faubourg Saint-Père. Turn right. Continue and take the second road on the left, Rue du Pourtour, just before the town exit, follow the first road on the right, Rue de l'Hôtel Dieu, which leads to Place de la Pierre des Clés.

(2) Take the road on the left. When you return to Rue du Pourtour, turn right and, at the bend, take Rue d'Obsonville on the left. At the no-entry sign, turn right onto Rue du Colombier. At the end, turn right onto Rue Neuve to reach Place du Renard.

(3) Go around the square on the left, cross two streets and turn onto Rue de la Tourelle. This street follows the route of the second wall, the ruins of a tower of which remain on the left. At the end of the street, turn right and walk back to the start, which will take you to Place Henri Thevenot.

(4) Walking up Allée du Poète Bézille, you can reach the cemetery, which contains a magnificent chapel dedicated to the poet. Retrace your steps back to the square.

(4) Keep going until you reach the war memorial. Turn right onto Place du Jeu de Paume.

(5) Walk down the square and take the first street on the left, Rue Lesesne. At the end of the street, you will arrive at a grassy square, Place des Chaumes.

(6) Take the narrow passage on the right at the beginning of the square. At the end of Promenade Gasson, turn left. Take the first road on the right, Rue de la Messe. Continue straight ahead, at the crossroads and at the end, turn left onto Chemin Latéral. After 200 metres, you will arrive at Place de la Gare.

(7) Continue to arrive, below, at a small triangular square with no name where the station festival used to take place. Keep to the left and go up towards the centre via Rue Émile Tinet (former mayor and general councillor of Puiseaux, who died in the Nazi concentration camps). This street is lined with a magnificent row of trees and beautiful, opulent residences. The first crossroads is the location of Place Henri Jacqeau.

(8) Turn right onto the square and take Avenue du Parc on the left. It runs alongside Puiseaux Park. Opposite the park entrance gate, take Passage Louise Dumesnil on the left. Go down and cross Rue des Viviers. Return to Place du Martroi (S/E).

Parking is available on Place du Martroi (note: blue zone), or on nearby Place du Jeu de Paume.

Take care when crossing roads due to traffic.

Route created in collaboration with the Loiret Departmental Tourism Committee and the municipalities along the route.

Yellow markings.

1 - Place du Martroi: This is where the market or fair used to be held. 16th-century market hall (listed as a historic monument). It was Louis VI the Fat who established the market in Puiseaux. In the past, a cross stood in the centre. It was dismantled during the Revolution and has since been moved to the cemetery. The market hall already appeared on a map dating from 1698.

The Church of Notre-Dame, built in the^13th century, has a twisted bell tower, rare in France, above an octagonal tower.

2 - Place Saint-Jean. It takes its name from a fortified gate in the first city wall.

3 - Place de la Mézière. Its origin is thought to be related to a place called "le Mez".

4 - Place des Déportés. Formerly known as "Place de l'Abreuvoir" because there used to be a pond for livestock here. On 10 August 1944, the inhabitants of Puiseaux were loaded onto trucks here to be taken to Germany.

The Rely Tower, on the right, is one of the last remaining vestiges of the ramparts.

5 - Place du Brissard. This very old square is said to have been the site of an ancient market hall, demolished by the monks of Ferrières on the orders of the King.

6 - Place de la Pierre des Clés. In its centre is a stone engraved with the coat of arms of the former farm of the same name.

7 - Place du Renard (or Porte du Renard). It owes its name to the location of an old gate in the second wall.

8 - Place Henri Thevenot. A craftsman shot by the militia during the^Second World War after being brutally tortured at the Château d'Augerville.

The Allée du Poète Bézille leads up to the cemetery with a chapel dedicated to this poet.

9 - Place du Jeu de Paume. Former promenade dedicated to the game of the same name.

10 - Place des Chaumes. This name refers to straw, perhaps a market specific to this location or thatched roofs?

11 - Place de la Gare. The railway line dates back to the^mid-18th century. The railway connected Malesherbes to Montargis. It remains intact thanks to its strategic location.

12 - Place Henri Jacqueau. Captain who commanded the^6th company of the foot chasseurs battalion.

Dumesnil Park was donated to the town by its owner, Louise Dumesnil, for the purpose of building a stadium, a kindergarten and a rest home.

13 - Place de la République: Namedas such since 15/08/1899 and formerly known as "Place du Pilori", a place of public humiliation where offenders were exposed to the gaze of the townspeople.

Rue des Viviers. On 19 June 1698, after a terrible storm in the countryside north-east of Puiseaux, floodwaters rushed into the town through the Saint-Jacques gate, which had been left open, but were blocked by the cobbled gate, which had remained closed. As a result, the waters rose and a terrible catastrophe ensued, with 200 houses destroyed, 600 head of cattle lost and 80 people drowned! Take Rue Duthuard and arrive at Place de la République.

There are three other squares in Puiseaux, although they do not have official names:

- the Town Hall, formerly known as the church square or forecourt,

- Place du Charbon, on Rue de Paris, where residents used to come to collect their coal in winter,

- de la Lune, at the end of Rue du Fort (probably due to its crescent shape).