Angles

Overview

commune

Where to stay in Angles

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What to see, what to do

Stratotype of the Barremian

A geological exposure that is the world reference for the Barremian stage (Lower Cretaceous), by the side of the small RD 33 road just before you reach the village, in the heart of the Haute-Provence Geological Nature Reserve. The section shows alternating beds of blue-grey limestone and layers of black marl rich in fossil ammonites about 125 to 129 million years old. The Angles section was designated as the stratotype of the Barremian by R. Busnardo in 1963 and described in detail in 1965; the stage itself, which was defined earlier, takes its name from Barrême. This is one of the most prestigious sites in the geological reserve and serves as the historical reference section for the study of this period. The site is signposted and accessible from the road.

Church of Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Honorat

A 17th-century parish church (a listed capital dated 1686), with a bell tower covered in polychrome glazed tiles. It holds rich furnishings: a painting of Notre-Dame-de-Pitié between Saint Honoré and Sainte Madeleine, a triptych of the Pietà, a statue of the Virgin and Child, a reliquary bust of Saint Honoré and a processional cross. The dedication to Saint Honorat recalls the parish's dependence on the Abbey of Lérins (Saint-Honorat).

Chapel of Notre-Dame

A chapel with a polygonal chancel with rib vaults, dated to the 16th - early 17th century (19th-century diocesan registers suggest it was built in 1870, which the architecture contradicts); restored in the 1970s.

Vernacular rural heritage

Wash-houses, fountains, a drinking trough, oratories and wayside crosses recorded in the commune.

History of Angles

The place is mentioned for the first time around 1045 in the form In Anglis (Angulis in the 12th century); according to place-name specialists the name may refer to an angular, wedge-shaped relief, or to fields. The community appears in the charters in 1245, in joint lordship between the bishops of Senez and the Abbey of Lérins. In 1454 the priory was united with that of Vergons, a dependency of the Saint-Honorat Abbey of Lérins, until the abbey was secularised in 1788. A patriotic society was founded during the Revolution. The commune then went through the rural exodus, falling from 347 inhabitants in 1831 to about fifty in the mid-20th century, before stabilising at around 55 to 75 inhabitants since the 1970s. The economy remains rural, with a few sheep farms; tourism is discreet and rests on nature, Lac de Castillon and the scientific reputation of the stratotype.