Domme, July 2002

Domme is a fortified settlement on a rocky promontory overlooking the Dordogne. It was founded as such in 1281, a new defensive town called a "bastide". It was a base of the Knights Templar. As per usual, it changed hands several times between the English and French in the Hundred Years War. In 1588, during the Catholic/Protestant Wars of Religion, the Huguenot captain Geoffroi de Vivans climbed the cliffs at night with 30 men and took the town by surprise. There are caves in the rocks, with an entrance in the main square, used by the townspeople as a refuge during these wars.