Thanks to extensive research, the organisation of the commandery built in 1192 in Chamberaud is now better understood. Following the discovery of an aqueduct, numerous medieval pottery shards, the Napoleonic land registry and, above all, a medieval text describing the seigneurial estate in 1556, it is now possible to imagine what the village of Chamberaud looked like 500 years ago.

We have recently learned that there were seven mills in the commune of Chamberaud, all concentrated along a small stream. The stream is lined with stones on the sides in several places and sometimes even at the bottom. Its exact course has been completely traced thanks to its remains between ‘Les Roches’ and ‘La Souterraine’. Part of this canal is remarkable not only because it is well preserved, but also because it is covered by a dozen large stones. It fed a small pond near the village commonly known as the ‘old pond’, an area which is still marshy in the wet season.

Chamberaud
and archaeology

Countless shards have been found in and around the Commandery. What's more, the number of beautiful fragments is increasing, and we are beginning to get a clearer picture of the objects used nearly 700 years ago (according to experts' estimates). The pottery was wheel-thrown and made from a black clay with a high mica content. It was fired at a constant temperature (as evidenced by the uniform colour of the fractures). There are plates and vases of various sizes. Some fragments clearly show decorations, mostly in the form of braided cords. Only one metal object has been found: a run or drip that must have formed during the manufacture of another object. This leads us to believe that there was a forge not far from the current town hall.

Let us return to the organisation of the Commandery itself. Based on the remains at Chamberaud and the extract from the 1556 land register that has survived to this day, we have deduced the following layout: a wall surrounds the village of Chamberaud. It is a dry-stone wall, averaging 2 meters in height. Several parts of the wall remain to this day and its layout has therefore been largely recovered. The land register mentions this wall and indicates that inside it, facing north (“costé septentrion”), there were four “lodgings” in the same building. In the village of Chamberaud, there are four buildings lined up facing north that appear to be dilapidated. Furthermore, the structure of these buildings corresponds to their former functions as described in the land register (cellar, dwelling, stable, communal oven). These buildings are listed on the current land registry under the numbers: ZE 157, ZE 158, ZE 159, ZE 160. There was also another, second wall, which is mentioned in the description of the commandery, and we have managed to locate part of its route. It surrounded a dwelling, a stable, and a large round tower, and the south wall of the church formed part of this second enclosure wall.

Research on sites 1 to 11 was carried out in the spring of 1997 by Nicolas and Matthieu Peyne.