Guillon-Terre-Plaine is a commune of Yonne, in the Burgundy-Franche-Comté region, 16 km east of Avallon, on the edge of the Côte-d'Or.
This is a new municipality created on 1 January 2019 following the merger of Guillon, its headquarters (433 inhabitants) and Cisery (52 inhabitants), Sceaux (130 inhabitants), Trévilly (72 inhabitants) and Vignes (83 inhabitants). inhabitants), now totaling about 800 inhabitants.
The territory of the locality, now vast of 48 km², is crossed by the course of the Serein, a tributary of the Yonne, and is between the natural and historical regions of Avallonnais and Tonnerrois. Its rural, verdant and hilly landscape presents a landscape unit already called the Plain Earth in the Middle Ages.
Agriculture remains the main activity of Guillon-Terre-Plaine, but the picturesque heritage of its villages, the charm of the Serein and its proximity to some major sites such as Vézelay, Avallon or the vineyards of Chablis and Côte-d'Or make the town a pleasant stop for green tourism enthusiasts.
A circuit in the form of discovery of heritage can begin with the town of Guillon, which developed in a loop of Serein, on the right bank, excavations having established that the site was already occupied during the Bronze Age.
During the Hundred Years War, King Edward III of England stayed in a castle that has now disappeared.
Two buildings are to be seen. The Saint-Rémy church, first of all, whose Romanesque choir dates from the twelfth century. The belfry is later (XIV) and the nave was rebuilt in the fifteenth following a fire. There is a massive tower adjoining the exterior of the choir and the beautiful 14th century portal with its round archway framing the tympanum decorated with a statue of the Virgin. Other carved ornaments (capitals of small columns, ends of a pointed arch made of heads) are visible. Inside, the building houses 12th century listed baptismal fonts made of a carved stone vat and a 17th century carved wooden statue of the Virgin of the Vintners carrying the baby Jesus. A testimony of the viticultural past of the territory that was struck by the phylloxera crisis. Finally, there are colored friezes on a blue and gold starred background uncovered during restoration work in 1992 and the stained glass windows depicting Saint Rémi, whose statue is also placed at the door.
On the civil level, the other major building of Guillon is the bridge over the Serein, with 8 arches, which was built in the early sixteenth century, before being restored in the seventeenth, eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The charm of the work of art is particularly the varied colors of the stones that compose it, extracted from different quarries of the region.
On the village of Vignes, the parish church of Saint-Pierre was built in the twelfth century by the monks of the powerful nearby Abbey of Moutiers-Saint-Jean at the request of the bishop of Langres. The chevet and choir are original, the porch of the thirteenth century, but the nave covered with arches of ogives was rebuilt in the sixteenth. Protected as historical monuments, the building houses at the porch, a polychrome statue of Saint Peter that has probably been retouched (the neck and shoulders were somehow planed so that the statue can be placed in a niche).
In Cisery, where an archaeological site has unearthed vestiges of the Bronze Age, the Saint-Aignan church dates from the 18th century and has replaced an earlier chapel belonging to a priory. Ruined as early as 1666, it was isolated in fields, and its location is now symbolized by a cross.
Finally, the remains of the old seigniorial castle built in the 14th century deserve attention. The estate is today the center of a farm. Remains of the original building a main building that adjoins a round tower, and, on the other side, what was the square tower commanding the drawbridge. Some of the materials come from the granite mountains of Morvan. In the Middle Ages, the castle was mainly used to shelter the peasants of the area during the troubles.
On the old town of Sceaux, the church of Saint-Maurice of the twelfth century and a pretty wash house of the nineteenth are to be seen, and on the hamlet of Maison-Dieu, the chapel Sainte-Marguerite, rebuilt in the seventeenth and restored in the twentieth It replaced a 12th century Romanesque chapel built by the lord of Montreal.
This circuit ends at Trévilly, which dominates the valley of Serein, and which was a parish dependent on the archdeaconry of Autun.
Once this loop is completed, the visitor can rest on the green natural area of Montfault, Guillon, equipped with a picnic table and from which we enjoy a beautiful view of the plain.
For lovers of hiking, the territory and its lush landscapes are very pleasant. Staked farmland and wooded parcels, circuits can include heritage elements or follow for example the course of Serein. Maps and information on +33 3 86 49 02 82 or +33 3 86 72 92 00.
For a fishing trip, precisely, in this river full of fish, inquire with the local association at +33 6 75 68 44 45.
