In and around the Fosse aux Lions

(S/E) Take the path heading south-west (away from the cemetery). Follow it to a junction just before a small road.

(1) Turn right onto a grassy path that climbs northwards through the forest. Reach the hamlet of Goux and walk through it.

(2) Cross the D737 with care and continue along the path opposite. Note the Sources du Lambon fountain and washhouse on the left. At the first junction, turn right onto a path at the edge of the woods. Once out of the woods, pass under a high-voltage power line. You’ll immediately come out onto a small road; follow it to the left.

(3) Just before the road leading to Pié Limousin (on the left-hand side), turn right onto a path which, shortly afterwards, enters the Bois de la Gandissière. At the T-junction in the middle of the woods, turn right. At the next junction, turn left. After a short stretch along the edge of the woodland, cross through the Bois de la Bosse. At the T-junction, turn left and head north along a path that runs first along the edge of the woodland and then through the fields.

(4) At the junction, turn right and follow the path which joins the D737.

(5) Just before the road, turn right. Immediately cross the D737, taking care, to follow the path opposite, heading due south. At the first junction, at a place called La Fosse aux Lions, turn left and cross an area of open fields.

(6) At the next junction, turn right. A little further on, cross a small road and continue along the track opposite.

(7) At a wide right-hand bend in the track, note a path on the left which may allow you to visit several springs before reaching the hamlet of Fontblanche (route not marked).
Carry on along the path, which heads south-west and passes under a high-voltage power line. You’ll come out onto a small road; follow it to the right and pass through the hamlet of Pié Baché.

(8) On leaving the hamlet, turn left onto the road towards the Bois de Circé. Take the first right and pass through the hamlet of Le Clapier. Continue straight on up the track, ignoring the side paths. You’ll reach a small road right next to the Goux cemetery; turn left and return to the car park (S/E).

The car park is located near the Goux cemetery.

This walk across varied terrain requires suitable footwear.

This walk is only very partially signposted as it crosses small sections of other routes marked in yellow. Please note that these markings, which do not correspond to this route, may lead to confusion. Consequently, it is advisable to follow the instructions in the description and on the map, whilst also paying close attention to the landscape. The waypoints (with their GPS coordinates and the distance from the starting point) serve as aids for walkers exploring the route for the first time.

Hike completed by the author on 12 February 2019

Protestantism in Deux-Sèvres

History of a religion and a rural society
1.1 – Under the Ancien Régime
Whilst the farmers in the north of what is now the Deux-Sèvres department were predominantly Catholic, the south (Bas-Poitou) had been predominantly Protestant since the 16th century.
The Protestant Reformation spread very rapidly through Aunis, Saintonge and Poitou, just as it did in Brittany and Anjou. Between Luther’s appearance in Germany in 1517 and the birth of Catherine de Parthenay in 1554, three generations of Protestants had already come and gone. This shows that ideas spread very quickly and that events came thick and fast for those known as the Huguenots, or even ‘Lutheran vermin’.
In 1534, Calvin was in Poitiers, and the ideas of the Reformation found a wide audience amongst the university community; subsequently, through travellers, pedlars and, above all, the printing press, they spread even more widely amongst craftsmen and traders. From the very beginning, the most fervent centres of the movement were to be found in Angoulême, Cognac, Saintes and Saint-Jean-d’Angély, the Arvert peninsula, Marennes, Saujon, Pons, La Rochelle, Saint-Martin-de-Ré, as well as in Poitiers and Loudun. Poitou, caught in a pincer movement between Tours and Amboise, with Upper Brittany and Béarn having been won over to the Reformation, was to become one of the key centres for the spread of Protestantism, the Wars of Religion and their aftermath. The surrender of La Rochelle on 28 October 1628 marked the end of military Protestantism. However, the educated lords – who travelled for war or leisure, bringing their entourages and servants with them – along with the elites and merchants, would all contribute to sustaining the vitality of Protestantism in the West, through links with the Netherlands, Germany and England.

1.2 – In the 19th and 20th centuries
The ‘dragonnades’ and the persecutions of the ‘Church of the Desert’ are all painful memories that go some way towards explaining why the Protestants, who formed the majority in the south of the new department, readily embraced the Revolution and all that it entailed: the fall of the monarchy. They enlisted en masse in militias to fight the Chouans, whilst the inhabitants of the northern part of the department, who were predominantly Catholic, aligned themselves with the Vendéens. Following the imperial decree of 5 May 1806 authorising Protestants to have places of worship, the communities of Poitou and Charentes, emerging from more than a century of ‘desert’, remained in the areas where they had been most firmly established from the outset. Even today, in the Deux-Sèvres, there are notable differences in every election between the south, which most often votes for the left, and the north, which votes for the right. Despite the mass exodus that followed the Revocation in 1685, the Protestant presence in the region remained strong right up until the Revolution. Protestants were granted freedom of civil status in 1787. The unofficial freedom of worship, established in 1789, became official in 1795 and was confirmed in 1905. During the nineteenth century, itinerant preachers and evangelists contributed to the revival of Protestantism throughout the region.
Poitou then had more than 30,000 Protestants, concentrated mainly in the Deux-Sèvres, between Melle and Niort, with a few isolated centres around Moncoutant and a small number in the Vienne. In some areas, half the population was Calvinist, and around ten communes had not a single Catholic. The next largest centre was the Arvert peninsula, around Marennes in Charente-Maritime, with a few communities in Charente between Jarnac and Saintes, estimated to number 20,000 believers. La Rochelle, like the port of Nantes, remained one of the most important Protestant centres.
The new ministers appointed to the region attached little importance to the construction of places of worship, occasionally making use of barns or disused churches. Furthermore, new buildings soon fell into disrepair due to a lack of maintenance.
Gradually, during the 19th century, Protestant worship, which had previously been rural in character, shifted towards urban centres, following the educated ‘elites’—who had been partly shaped by reading the Bible—and who went on to play an active role in industry, commerce or the civil service.
In 1874, French Protestants submitted a petition to the Protestant members of the National Assembly. Among the names listed were: Belluc, pastor and president of the Consistory of Melle (Deux-Sèvres); Sabatier, pastor, in Mougon; Bastoul, pastor, in Verrines; and Montet, pastor, in Thorigné. — Moreau, secretary of the Consistory, in Nôgresauve-Saint-Romant. — Foucher, mayor of Saint-Romans-lès-Melle. — Bontier, mayor of Chail. — Augereau, member of the Consistory, in Saint-Léger. — Fouché, id., in Verrines. — Fouchier, id., in Saint-Vincent.— Foucher Jacques, same, in Melle. — Houmeau, same, in Celles. — Rivault, same, in Celles. — Ingrand F., same, in Verrines. — Ingrand J., landowner, same. — Quintard, same, in Saint-Romans-lès-Melle. — Déchaîne, clockmaker, same.

For further information:
Source: Family chronicle of the Duvigneau, Gervais, Basille and Bosséno families (excerpts)