Normandy | Page 6

built in the fourteenth
century. From more than one point of view Lillebonne makes beautiful
pictures, its roofs dominated by the great tower of the parish church as
well as by the ruins of the castle.
We have lost sight of the Seine since we left Tancarville, but a ten-mile
run brings us to the summit of a hill overlooking Caudebec and a great
sweep of the beautiful river. The church raises its picturesque outline
against the rolling white clouds, and forms a picture that compels
admiration. On descending into the town, the antiquity and the
quaintness of sixteenth century houses greet you frequently, and you do
not wonder that Caudebec has attracted so many painters. There is a
wide quay, shaded by an avenue of beautiful trees, and there are views
across the broad, shining waters of the Seine, which here as in most of
its length attracts us by its breadth. The beautiful chalk hills drop
steeply down to the water's edge on the northern shores in striking

contrast to the flatness of the opposite banks. On the side of the river
facing Caudebec, the peninsula enclosed by the windings of the Seine
includes the great forest of Brotonne, and all around the town, the steep
hills that tumble picturesquely on every side, are richly clothed with
woods, so that with its architectural delights within, and its setting of
forest, river and hill, Caudebec well deserves the name it has won for
itself in England as well as in France.
Just off the road to Rouen from Caudebec and scarcely two miles away,
is St Wandrille, situated in a charming hollow watered by the
Fontanelle, a humble tributary of the great river. In those beautiful
surroundings stand the ruins of the abbey church, almost entirely dating
from the thirteenth century. Much destruction was done during the
Revolution, but there is enough of the south transept and nave still in
existence to show what the complete building must have been. In the
wonderfully preserved cloister which is the gem of St Wandrille, there
are some beautiful details in the doorway leading from the church, and
there is much interest in the refectory and chapter house.
Down in the piece of country included in a long and narrow loop of the
river stand the splendid ruins of the abbey of Jumieges with its three
towers that stand out so conspicuously over the richly wooded country.
When you get to the village and are close to the ruins of the great
Benedictine abbey, you are not surprised that it was at one time
numbered amongst the richest and most notable of the monastic
foundations. The founder was St Philibert, but whatever the buildings
which made their appearance in the seventh century may have been, is
completely beyond our knowledge, for Jumieges was situated too close
to the Seine to be overlooked by the harrying ship-loads of pirates from
the north, who in the year 851 demolished everything. William
Longue-Epee, son of Rollo the great leader of these Northmen,
curiously enough commenced the rebuilding of the abbey, and it was
completed in the year of the English conquest. Nearly the whole of the
nave and towers present a splendid example of early Norman
architecture, and it is much more inspiring to look upon the fine west
front of this ruin than that of St Etienne at Caen which has an aspect so
dull and uninspiring. The great round arches of the nave are supported

by pillars which have the early type of capital distinguishing eleventh
century work. The little chapel of St Pierre adjoining the abbey church
is particularly interesting on account of the western portion which
includes some of that early work built in the first half of the tenth
century by William Longue-Epee. The tombstone of Nicholas Lerour,
the abbot who was among the judges by whom the saintly Joan of Arc
was condemned to death, is to be seen with others in the house which
now serves as a museum. Associated with the same tragedy is another
tombstone, that of Agnes Sorel, the mistress of Charles VII., that
heartless king who made no effort to save the girl who had given him
his throne.
Jumieges continued to be a perfectly preserved abbey occupied by its
monks and hundreds of persons associated with them until scarcely
more than a century ago. It was then allowed to go to complete ruin,
and no restrictions seem to have been placed upon the people of the
neighbourhood who as is usual under such circumstances, used the
splendid buildings as a storehouse of ready dressed stone.
Making our way back to the highway, we pass through beautiful
scenery, and once more reach the banks of the Seine at the town of
Duclair which stands below the