Russ logo

All information gathered first-hand, since 1995

  Sites /  Bories /  Capitelles of Saint Siffret

The world's oldest, largest (and best) website about Provence

Capitelles of Saint Siffret

Sentier des Capitelles St-Siffret


Gallery of 11 photos for Bories St Siffret

In the garrigue woods beside the village of St Siffret are a number of 17th-19t century capitelles (the dry-stone huts know elsewhere as bories). The entrance to area is announced with a large sign indicating "Sentier des Capitelles" (path of the capitelles/bories), and short signposts help you follow the path through the area.

There are no signs or markers indicating how to get to this area, however. In fact, in spite of living nearby, we only ran across St Siffret's Sentier des Capitelles by accident, while on a walk out to the observation table with a view of Uzès.

Location The site is located south of St Siffret village [Bories St Siffret Map]. Take the road towards St Maximin and, immediately after the Epicerie shop, turn right onto the Route du Plan. One km down the road the pavement stops; continue on, in the direction of the Table d'Orientation, for another 200 m, and you'll see the Sentier des Capitelles sign on your right. Park there and walk up the road to the right (north).

The dry-stone structure in the top photo [Photo-03] we called Wall-1Capitelle (the first one along the trail, and built into the stone wall). It turned out that several of these capitelles were integrated into the thick stone walls; somewhat unusual in our experience. [Map coordinates 44.01074, 4.44370]

Capitelle Wall-2, St Siffret Sentier What we called the Wall-2 Capitelle is close enough to be visible from the first one. Crowned with dead pine needles, it looks from a distance as though it's thached. Also built into a thick stone wall, the shape is rather nice, with a half-dome extended out from the side of the main part. [Map coordinates 44.01074, 4.44312]
 

Capitelle Wall-3, St Siffret Sentier Following the trail north through the woods we found our third stone hut, Wall-3 Capitelle, somewhat smaller that the others, but again integrated into a stone wall. [Map coordinates 44.01074, 4.44312]
 

 

Capitelle Isolated, St Siffret Sentier des Our Isolated Capitelle seems to be off the marked trail. From the Wall-3 hut the marked sentier goes due north through the woods. Just a couple of minutes up the trail, though, you can see off to the right (east) about 50m this short, domed capitelle with a solitary vertical rock on the top like a decorative stone feather. [Map coordinates 44.01155, 4.44324]
 

Capitelle Two-Door, St Siffret Sentier The Two-Door Capitelle is built in a very unusual shape, being very long (wide) and low and with a gradually inclined roof line. This one is located due north of the Wall-3 Capitelle. (You come back to the path after visiting the Isolated Capitelle.) It turns out that there aren't really two doors; the apparent door on the left is just a shallow nook rather than an entrance. We haven't figured out what its purpose is. [Map coordinates 44.01159, 4.44278]
 

Capitelle High-Low, St Siffret Sentier The High-Low Capitelles are two capitelles built side-by-side and facing in opposite directions. The Lower capitelle (facing you in this photo) is about 2 m tall. The adjacent, High Capitelle [Photo-10] is a good 4 m tall, and including an inclined ramp partly up the side beside the entrance. [Map coordinates 44.01189, 4.44241]
 

Capitelle Concave Side, St Siffret Sentier Continuing northeast, the path takes you back to the the main dirt road. The Concave-Side Capitelle is located on the far (east) side of the dirt road. It's set back 50 m or so, but visible through the trees. [Map coordinates 44.01251, 4.44346]
 
When you head back down the road towards where you started, you'll find some newly rebuilt stone walls on both sides of the the road. These are more of the very wide walls that don't serve any type of enclosure purpose.
 

Books

An excellent book (in French) about the Provence bories, with photos, maps and architectural drawings is:

Bories
Parc Natural Régional du Luberon
Edisud (publisher)
ISBN 2-85744-720-5

For ordering the book, try contacting one of the Luberon organizations.

Search Beyond


Site Map Provence Beyond


 Russ photo russ.png After 25 years online, I've decided to remove all Ads from my one-man web Provence Beyond. If the content is enjoyable or useful to you, I would really appreciate your support.


Nearby Places