Calleville: Church, Ceramics and Landscape

Calleville brings together church architecture, ceramics, archaeology and landscape. If you are planning a stay, you can think of the village in terms of the subject that interests you most: a historic church building, traditional clay work or the landscape around Buhot. These themes are clearly distinct and offer different points of reference to help you decide whether Calleville suits your travel interests.

Saint-Agnan-Sainte-Clothilde Church

Saint-Agnan-Sainte-Clothilde Church has a rectangular nave. The deep, flat-ended choir extends it to the east. Its depth and flat end give the eastern section a different shape from the rectangular nave, making the two parts easy to distinguish. The church was founded between the 11th and 14th centuries by the d’Harcourt family. This links its architectural form to a founding history spanning several centuries. Visitors interested in architecture and history can consider both here: the division into nave and choir, and the church’s historic foundation by the d’Harcourt family.

Ceramics studio: materials and craft

The studio of art ceramicist Léa Croison is located in Calleville. In her craftwork, she uses natural and locally sourced materials. A visit introduces the workshop and its location, the clay materials and tools, and samples of engobes and glazes. An introduction to clay modelling includes kneading and shaping. The experience therefore ranges from the materials and tools used to working with clay. Unlike the church, the focus here is not on architectural forms but on ceramic materials and craft processes. The studio appeals to a different interest from the church’s architectural and founding history: working with clay and the tools and finishes involved.

Buhot: archaeological site and greenway

The archaeological site at Buhot lies on the left bank of the Bec, at the foot of a steep north-facing slope. It yielded a concentration of 4,930 stone artefacts. The assemblage includes large blades, bladelets and microlithic points. The precise number conveys the scale of the find, while the different artefact types give a more concrete sense of its composition. At Buhot, both the site’s location and its archaeological material are central. The hamlet of Buhot is also crossed by a former railway line that has been converted into a greenway. This landscape feature adds the former railway line and its conversion to the archaeological theme.

Calleville in the Vallée du Bec

The landscape also gives Calleville a broader context: the commune is one of the eight communes in the protected Vallée du Bec area. The area covers 1,382 hectares and was designated on 19 April 2024. Its size indicates the scale of this landscape area: it is not a single building or archaeological site, but an area shared by several communes. When considering the destination, it is therefore worth distinguishing the local attractions from this landscape context spanning multiple communes.

These themes appeal to different interests: the church combines architectural form and founding history, the studio offers insight into materials and modelling, and Buhot brings together archaeological finds and a specific landscape setting. The protected Vallée du Bec also places Calleville in a broader regional context.

Discover more destinations: Guichainville, Serquigny, Branville, Berville-Sur-Mer, Vesly, Gouville, Caumont, Saint-Pierre-De-Cormeilles.

For the regional travel overview: Eure.