St Xist Priory
St Xist priory stands in the hamlet of St Xist near La-Tour-sur-Orb. The current church dates from the XVIIIc and is well restored and painted pink. Parts of the priory date from its foundation in the XIIc. The monks were attached to the Abbey at Joncels. A local association looks after the building. During restoration work a stairway into the bell tower was found, completely filled with rubble. The church has a number of modern and attractive stained-glass windows. The real treasure of the priory is the tiny cloister. This is, unusually, on the first floor, surrounding a small courtyard below probably used in the past for keeping animals. This form of cloister is very unusual and of real historical significance. What was probably a bread oven is set into one of the walls of the cloister.
Click on the thumbnails to the left for more photos. The church is open for visiting on heritage days.