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Origin and history

The Strawberry Chapel, located in Beauzac in the Haute-Loire, is a vestige of an ancient medieval agricultural estate. Built in the 13th century by the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, it was part of a priory including a church, cemetery and agricultural buildings. The foundations of the adjoining house are still visible today, testifying to its functional and religious past.

The site, occupied as early as Neolithic, was probably a Celtic place of worship before its Christianization. The Hospitallers, who arrived in the Velay in the 12th century, established an agricultural commissionory. In 1273, the estate was exchanged with Saint-Chaffre Abbey, becoming a Benedictine priory. The chapel, in Romanesque style with an ogival door, is surmounted by three typical bell towers.

During the French Revolution, the chapel was looted: its objects of worship disappeared in 1794, although its bell tower was spared. In the 19th century it became a communal good, but worship was abandoned there in 1817. Degraded in the 20th century (a tree grew on its vault), it was restored between 1970 and 2003. Today, it dominates the gorges of Ramel, between the villages of Fraisse-Haut and Fraisse-Bas.

Its name would come from the ash trees (occitan free) surrounding the site. The chapel, listed as a historical monument in 1972, illustrates the region's hospital and Benedictine heritage. Local excavations and archives also reveal traces of prehistoric occupation, highlighting its multi-secular importance.

Architecturally, the unique nave arched in cradle and the carved side door (mounted in 1925) reflect its evolution. The estate, sold in 1616 to the Jourda family, was maintained as a place of worship until the Revolution. Municipal registers and notarial acts document its turbulent history, between abandonment and preservation.

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