Les Tertres (steep streets), Saint Emilion
Steep cobbled streets connecting upper & lower parts of the city
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!
