Chapelle Saint-Roch & the Old Tanners' Quarter
Most visitors to Nontron spend their time on the central Place Paul Bert and never find the steep, cobbled lanes that drop east from the château towards the Bandiat — the old tanners' and weavers' quarter that was the town's working-class heart for five centuries. A 30-minute wander here feels like stepping into a Périgord that tourism has entirely forgotten.
The quarter and its architecture
Follow Rue de la Barre east from the château and the street narrows quickly into a series of medieval passages lined with 15th- and 16th-century stone houses, many still bearing the iron rings where pack-mules were tethered. The ground floors that once housed tanning vats now serve as garages or garden sheds, but the upper storeys with their arched windows and dovecotes are largely unchanged.
At the bottom of the descent, a small spring-fed fountain — the Fontaine des Tanneurs — marks the spot where leather workers drew water for their trade. The stone basin is carved with a simple cross and the date 1687. It is completely unlabelled and almost always empty of visitors.
Chapelle Saint-Roch
A five-minute walk south along the valley path brings you to the tiny Chapelle Saint-Roch, a Romanesque chapel built in the 12th century and dedicated to the plague saint who was venerated throughout this region during the Black Death. The chapel is small enough to cross in ten paces, with a single nave, a carved tympanum above the door and a 17th-century painted wooden altarpiece inside.
The chapel is usually unlocked during daylight hours. Sit quietly inside for a few minutes — the silence, the smell of old stone and the single shaft of light through the apse window make it one of the most genuinely moving small spaces in the Périgord Vert. There is no entry fee and no gift shop.
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