Vaux: Romanesque Church and Canal History

If you are considering Vaux as a travel destination, you can base your choice on specific interests: the Romanesque Church of Saint-Eloi, the history of the Canal de Berry, or the marked trails for walking and cycling. These different highlights give your travel plans more focus. When looking for a hotel in Vaux, you can first decide whether you are mainly interested in architectural history or would like to make a particular activity the focus of your trip.

Romanesque architecture and a later manor house

The Church of Saint-Eloi in Vaux is a Romanesque building dating from the 12th century. On the west façade, the bell gable is divided by two arcades. Built from red sandstone, the church has a rectangular floor plan and ends in a semicircular apse. The materials and floor plan define the building’s structure, while the bell gable characterizes the west façade. Its Romanesque character is therefore evident not only from its date but also from its form and layout. For travelers interested in culture, the church is a distinctive architectural landmark.

The Château des Trillers is a manor house in the style of the second half of the 19th century. Unlike the Church of Saint-Eloi, which dates from the 12th century, it represents a much later stylistic period. These two points of reference help distinguish different periods in architectural history: Romanesque architecture at the church and a manor house whose style belongs to the later 19th century.

Canal construction and lock history

The Vaux Canal Bridge was built between 1825 and 1828 and spans the Magieure with three arches. Its restoration was completed in September 2018 and included a fish pass to restore the ecological continuity of the Magieure. Its construction and restoration mark two distinct chapters in its history: the early 19th-century construction phase was followed by a completed restoration that included an ecological feature.

The lock keeper’s house at Chantemerle in Vaux was one of nine houses built between 1822 and 1826 under the direction of engineer Aunier. The difference in elevation between the two canal reaches at Chantemerle is slightly more than 3 meters—the greatest among the 95 locks on the Canal de Berry. This comparison puts the locks at Chantemerle in a broader technical context and adds a specific dimension of the canal to the history of the individual building.

Walking or cycling

The PR6 Circuit Le sentier des Vignes is an easy 6.9-kilometer walk that takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes. In Vaux, the PR6 is signposted at Place Saint-Eloi and Place de l’Église. The route description therefore provides an indication of difficulty, as well as the distance and approximate walking time—useful details when planning how much time to set aside during your trip.

The Voie verte du Canal de Berry is an approximately 20-kilometer cycling route between Montluçon and Vallon-en-Sully that passes by the Vaux Canal Bridge. The two routes differ in both activity and scale: for the PR6, the description specifies that it is a walk, along with its difficulty and approximate duration; the cycling route connects two places over about 20 kilometers. If you are deciding between walking and cycling, you can compare these route details with your travel plans without applying the walking time to the cycling route.

Which of these sides of Vaux will shape your trip can help guide you in choosing the right place to stay.

Discover more destinations: Saint-Germain-De-Salles, Sainte-Thérence, Bellerive-Sur-Allier, Doyet, Lusigny, Bressolles, Contigny, Busset.

For the regional travel overview: Allier.