The ramparts
Prison Gate
Castle Gate
Clock
Tower Gate
Porte
du Clos
Place
de la Mairie
Place
Chauvier
The
water tank in the Couchoire district
The
fountain of the Poissonnerie
Chapelle
Notre-Dame de Montaigu
Miraculous
statuette of the Virgin
The
Parochial Church of Saint-Etienne
The
Musee-galerie Honoré Camos, the former Chapel of Saint-Etienne
World
War I Memorial
The ramparts and gates
Bargemon's earliest ramparts date for the eleventh century. Their avearge was twelve metres and their width one and half metres. A watch tower was erected at about every ten metres.
La Porte de la Prison , or Prison Gate, got its name from the former goal dating from 1582 which is situated on the right hand side (no visiting). The cell walls still preserve the rings to which prisoners were chained. The prison was last used by the watch as a latrine.
La Porte du Château, or Castle Gate, is made up of two adjoining towers. The small structure on the top of the wall is sometimes referred to as "the watchman's lodging". It is more likely, however, that it was used by the watch as a latrine.
On the Porte de la Tour de l'Horloge, or Clock Tower Gate (rue Gabriel Péri) the slots of the old portcullis are still visible in the wall.
The clock, running on electricity today, was worked by a complicated machanism up until the French Revolution. It used to strike not only the hour but also showed the different phases of the moon. This ancient mechanism can be seen today in the Musee-galerie Camos.
The Porte du Clos was situated between the Chapel of Montaigu and the Tour du Clos opposite. On the walls of the tower, dating from 1589, the metal strips for the support of ancient window openings are still visible.
Fountains and communal laundry basins
The fountain of the Place de la Mairie (Town Hall Square) dates from 1805 and is still in its original state. Its special shape was suitable for the watering of animals, the washing of cloths, or the hides used by local tanners. The Town Hall occupies the site of a medieval hospital. The building still bears on its façade the words "Maison commune".
The fountain on Place Philippe Chauvier (a Provençal poet, 1833-1903) dates from the sixteenth century and is a listed monument. It is now lacking the outlet which once allowed the washing of clothes.
The water tank in the Couchoire district of the village used to be the communal basin for the washing of clothes. For a long time it was a lively centre for the exchange of local gossip by the women who came here to do their laundry. On the road leading to Callas the so-called fountain of the Couchoire provides water whose qualities, as shown by chemical analysis, make it comparable to Evian mineral water.
The statue above the fountain is the work of the modern sculptor Sauveur Ramos.
The fountain of the Poissonnerie, (or of the Fishmongers) dates from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The word Poissonnerie (in Provençal "Peissounarie") is the distorted form of "pellisserie" (or tannery) which was its orginal name. Curiously, it is surmounted by what looks like an artichoke. Like the fountain in front of the Mairie it was used by the tanners.
Places of worship
The Chapelle de Montaigu was built in 1609 by the Fraternity of the White Penitents who called it the Chapelle de l'Annonciation. The name was changed to Notre-Dame de Montaigu in 1635 when a miraculous statuette of the Virgin was brought here from Montaigu in Belgium (Scherpenheuvel). The central nave is twenty metres long and seven metres wide. The main altar is surmounted by an impressive gilded altarpiece. The altar in the left aisle is dedicated to St Joseph and has interesting twisted columns hewn out of single slabs of stone.
The parochial Church of Saint-Etienne is thirty six metres wide and thirteen metres high. It was built into the wall of the rampart whose arrow-slits are still visible. The two marble angel heads of the main altar are attributed to Pierre Puget. The tower which collapsed in 1642 was rebuilt in 1662. The present bell was bought by public subscription in 1937.
The former Chapel of Saint-Etienne (today's Musée Camos), in the vicinity of the cemetery belonged to the Fraternity of Black Penitent Fathers (the name deriving from their black habit). their Priors were interred in the crypt (some skeletal remains visible through the floor of the museum). The Chapel was deconsecrated in 1912 due to the bad state of preservation of the bell tower which threatened with imminent collapse.
World War I Memorial
On the road leading to Seillans can be seen the Memorial to the soldiers who died in the WW1. Its sculpted figure was fashioned from the melted down bronze of the bell of the Chapel of Saint-Etienne, as were the railings of the small garden.