Skip to main content

Les Tertres (steep streets), Saint Emilion

Steep cobbled streets connecting upper & lower parts of the city

featured in Sights & Sites

A 'tertre' is a hillock or mound of earth and Saint Emilion has successfully adapted itself by shaping the town around its 'tertres'.

Each one - there are four - is a narrow and steep cobbled street with uneven paving that links various parts of the town together - the upper and the lower city. A rich part of the history of Saint Emilion these cobbles have travelled a long way, originating in fact in England.

After the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England in 1152, the region became English and remained so until the end of the Hundred Years's War in 1453. For three centuries the English ruled this area and traded freely along the Dordogne. The English used small cobble stones to ballast their boats on their journey to France and along the Gironde into the Dordogne river. Once they arrived in Aquitaine, the stones were discarded and replaced by wine barrels.

These stones were then used to created the cobbled 'tertres' of Saint Emilion!

Location

Map of the surrounding area

News

  • La Bataille de Castillon

    July in Bordeaux: What's on and weather

  • Ky-Mani Marley at Nuits du Sud, Vence

    August in Bordeaux: What's on and weather

  • outdoor music concert in bordeaux

    September in Bordeaux: What's on and weather

  • Estivales du Rhone, Avignon

    June in Bordeaux: What's on and weather

  • the ocean waves at l'horizon beach cap ferret

    Best bathing spots in Bordeaux

Events

  • 4 surfers in surf shorts on a podium

    Lacanau Pro Surfing competition

  • Dansons sur les Quais dance event, City of Bordeaux

    Dansons sur les Quais dance event, Bordeaux

  • Les Estivales de Musique en Medoc

    Les Estivales de Musique en Médoc

  • An image of a firework display

    Bastille Day

  • town square with market stalls

    Markets in the Bordeaux region

  • La Bataille de Castillon

    La Bataille de Castillon