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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Pierre de Mougon, located in the hamlet of the same name at Crouzilles (Indre-et-Loire), is a building of complex origins, potentially dating back to the fifth century. According to Grégoire de Tours, a parish already existed in Mougon in the fifth century, founded by Perpet, bishop of Tours between 460 and 491. The current remains, listed as a historical monument in 1962, reveal a 12th century medieval construction, built on ancient structures, perhaps a civil building of the Lower Roman Empire rather than a primitive church. The old masonries, in small pieces of rubble with brick seats, suggest a continuous occupation of the site, marked by successive changes until the modern era.

In the Middle Ages, the church, of simple shape with a single nave, served as a place of worship and burial for the local community. A sacristy was added to the modern era against the eastern wall, while a gable wall was erected to the west. The building was abandoned in the 19th century, when the parish of Mougon was attached to the parish of Crouzilles, then partially demolished in the 20th century, leaving only ruins: the eastern gable wall, part of the north and south walls, and traces of an adjacent funeral chapel. The excavations and studies, notably those of Charles Lelong in 1975, revealed four major phases of construction from the fifth century, without deciding definitively on the exact location of the early church, evoked by a local legend as having been carried away by the floods of Vienna.

The site of Mougon, occupied from the Roman High Empire, housed a dynamic agglomeration centered on potter shops. The medieval church, although distant from the river, fits into this rich archaeological context, where habitat and necropolises have gradually been organized around it. The current, though fragmentary, remains bear witness to this stratified history, mixing ancient, medieval religious and modern transformations. Their protection as a historic monument underscores their heritage value, despite the destruction suffered in the twentieth century. The debates between historians, like those opposing Henry Auvray and Charles Lelong on the origin of the masonries, illustrate the complexity of his past.

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