Church of Saint Remi
At the beginning of the 12th century, the church of Colondannes, placed under the vocation of Saint Remi, was a priory cure of canonical creation whose patronage belonged to the abbey of Bénévent. The choir of the building dates back to the 12th century as well as the eastern wall which today ensures the transition between the nave and the choir and which formerly marked the enclosure between the monks and the faithful. The first bay and its vault date from the 13th century, while the vaults of the second and third bays date from the 15th century. In the 17th century, the nave – after being partially destroyed by fire – was rebuilt and covered with a roof frame.
The present bell tower was built in 1868, replacing the original wall bell tower considered “unsound, unsightly and rather for the use of a chapel”. In 1959, the interior of the church was partially restored, the original altars were found and put back in place. In 1998, the repair of the entire interior rendering revealed the arch of an ancient doorway in the north wall and a doorway in the western facade.
Priory Inn
A memorandum dated March 11, 1792, recounts the history of the building in these terms: “The parish of Colondannes has been erected as a parish priest since the abolition of the convent of the order of Saint Genevieve which existed in former times. The revenues and other duties were created for the benefit of this community… Afterwards this community was converted into a priory”. A piece of masonry, preserved in the eastern facade, has confirmed the existence of a first building which could have been built at the same time as the oldest parts of the church (12th-13th centuries). A second building (present building) would have been built in the 15th century or at the beginning of the 16th century and belonged to the order of the Genovese. The priory became a presbytery in the 18th century and was bought by the commune in 1833 and restored in 1874. In 2001, after a new restoration, the former priory was transformed into an inn.
Les Combes de la Cazine
The Cazine is a stream that rises in the commune of Noth and then flows into the Sédelle, a tributary of the Creuse. On the Combes de la Cazine site, the stream flows through a narrow gorge with steep and frequently wooded slopes also sheltering some dry moors often located in sectors where the rock outcrops. These different facies host, on a relatively small surface, a remarkable fauna of dry and wet environments such as the European nightjar, the Saint,Martin harrier and a butterfly protected in France and particularly rare in the Creuse: the marsh copper.
The site of Combes de la Cazine is since 1984 a Zone of Ecological, Faunistic and Floristic Interest (ZNIEFF).
