Visit France > Aquitaine > Périgord > Marthonie

The history of St. Jean de Cole is blended with that of the Château de la Marthonie and the Priory, built in the late 11th century by Raynaud de Thiviers, the Bishop of Perigueux, on the banks of the Côle.

St. Jean de Cole is a picturesque medieval village with winding alleys, half-timbered houses, a Romanesque-Byzantine church and a medieval bridge. The chateau dominates the setting of St. Jean. It was begun in the 12th century and reconstructed in the 15th after the earlier structure was burned by the English during the Hundred Years War.