History:
The Parish registers date back to1516, the oldest in the département. They contain mentions of the earthquake of January 1570, pillaging by the Huguenots in 1578, the River Indre's great flood in 1770…
The presence of a dolmen and the Tours-Poitiers Roman road bear witness to a very long history of continual human occupation in the area. The
"Grand chemin" (Great Road) linked Port de Piles with Tours, and crossed the Indre at Pont-de-Ruan.
A large proportion of the houses are situated in the village centre and numerous small farms are scattered across the plateau. Don't forget that this is the start of the Sainte Maure goat's cheese producing area. The cheese now has its own Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (registered designation of origin), and small flocks of goats can be seen around the farms.
The church:
Dedicated to St Antoine, the church has a 12th century nave which extends from a choir with a flat chevet. At the base of the chevet, there is a decorative facing in "small bond", with pink cement and a levelling course of inclined tiles
which certainly predates the 11th century. The base of the church tower dates from the 12th century and also worthy of note are the octagonal stone spire and the dormer windows surmounting each of the corners of the belfry.
Private properties visible from outside:
Le Chatelet, a fortified settlement from around 1300 which was rebuilt at the beginning of the 16th century, is a superb small fortified château
surrounded by large moats filled with water. Built on a flat-topped feudal motte, its four turret towers and chapel are a remarkable legacy of Renaissance architecture.
To the north of the village lies the old du Plessis fiefdom, a manor house built around
1446, with a few subsequent minor modifications.
To the south, we find the old headquarters of the fiefdom, the Ferme de la Ripaudière,
surrounded by its quadrilateral moats. A beautiful porch with a pigeonnier (pigeon house) is a remnant of the manor house.
The wash houses:
Within the village, two wash houses have been preserved on the Pont Thibault stream. One of them is the communal washing place close to the timber-framed house where Balzac came to have his shoes mended by the cobbler Lenay.
The other wash house, a private building, is of the original construction ( trapezoid shape with curved walls) and resembles the shape of a washerwoman's laundry box.
Thilouze is mentioned by Balzac in the "Contes Drolatiques" (Droll Stories)
and especially in "La Pucelle de Thilouze" (The Maid of Thilouze).
|
