It is not only one of the oldest church towers in France, but its
position is one of the most peculiar, it being built, not on the church,
but behind it, and partly grafted upon the rock.
[Illustration: THE ABBEY OF BRANTOME.]
Of the old abbey little remains; but there is a cavern, formerly in
communication with the conventual buildings, which contains sculptures cut
upon the rock in relief, which are a great curiosity to ecclesiologists.
They are the work of the monks, who used this old quarry as a chapel, and,
it would appear, likewise as an ossuary in a limited sense, if the rows of
square holes cut in the rock were to serve as niches for skulls, as some
have maintained. One of the compositions in relief has given rise to
discussion among archaeologists. The first impression that it conveys is
that of an exceedingly uncouth representation of the Last Judgment, but
the Marquis de Fayolle's explanation, namely, that the idea which the
sculptor-monk endeavoured to work out here was the triumph of Death over
Life, meets with fewer objections. There are three figures or heads
symbolizing Death, of which the central one wears a diadem that bristles
with dead men's bones.
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