Saint-Maurice-Étusson is a town north of Deux-Sevres, in the New Aquitaine region, bordering Maine-et-Loire, 25 km north of Bressuire.
The town was officially created on 1 January 2016 following the merger of the villages of Saint-Maurice-la-Fougereuse (538 inhabitants) and Étusson (350 inhabitants).
The territory is located in a landscape typical of the grove, and until the Revolution, the two former parishes were in the province of Anjou.
Very tested during the wars of the Revolution (Étusson was burned in 1794), the two towns then found some prosperity thanks to agriculture (livestock, orchards) before being confronted with the rural exodus.
A few heritage elements and above all a green and preserved environment make it now popular stages of lovers of green tourism.
The heritage of the ancient villages forming Saint-Maurice-Étusson can be the object of a walk including several sites of interest.
On Saint-Maurice, this is the case of the church renovated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries on the basis of a Romanesque building dating from the twelfth, which remains the choir flat bedside and two bays vaulted broken cradle. Note that the two small chapels to the north and south date back to 1964. In addition, the nave with low vaults is surprisingly wider than the choir. The bell tower is attached to the right of the facade. Above the floor of the bells, it has a bulb surmounted by a small arrow. Inside, the church houses stained glass windows from the 19th century, a beautiful polychrome wood crucifix from the 17th century and several statues from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Still on Saint-Maurice, several sites are still worth a detour: the remains of the castle of the former lords of the Haye-Fougereuse, those of a manor destroyed during the Hundred Years War (known as The Fireplace of the Devil) and finally what rest of the old priory of the Fougereuse: a porch, an apse, a carved door.
At the former village of Etusson, a stop can be welcome at the church dedicated to Saint-Pierre. Rebuilt in the nineteenth century, the building is adorned with beautiful stained glass windows and inside, behind the baptismal font, there is a monumental painting of the Baptism of Christ, after a work by Francesco Albani, known as Albane., Italian painter of the seventeenth century.
In terms of the environment, the territory is not lacking in charm, with Beaurepaire ponds (with an area of 100 hectares) and La Grippière, the so-called Anjou and Noirpin woods, not to mention the steep slopes from the valley of the Ouère.
This can obviously lead to many hiking trails or mountain biking. Some tours may include a break at a local producer (organic meat or jams). Documentation and information on +33 5 49 65 10 27.
The bocage landscape and the many ponds and streams are also popular with fishermen. Contact the +33 5 49 09 23 33 to know the developed sites and the regulations in force.
In mid-July, on Saint-Maurice, feast of the mold. On the program, motorcycle and quad rides in the morning, meals and tasting mussels, fun and musical entertainment.
