Just beyond the hamlet of Lierville (on the left) five roads meet. The direct way to Gisors is straight ahead, but a notice warns one of bad paving-stones, and recommends going to the right through Chaumont-en-Vexin. By doing so the distance is only slightly increased, and the pavé is entirely avoided.
The road winds down steeply into the leafy hollow in which the little town of Chaumont-en-Vexin stands. Its church, with a curious Classic tower of stumpy proportions, contains rich Flamboyant work, and is conspicuous on the shoulder of a hill above the houses.
There are remains of the eleventh-century castle where some of the French kings resided when the Norman frontiers were defended by a chain of castles. In the chief street there is a picturesque sixteenth-century house of timber-framing.
The Pierre-Trouée (or des Druids) is a very fine dolmen, composed of four stones, situated about two kilometres south-east of Trie-Château. An artificial circular hole has been cut through the base of the side stone, and Fergusson infers from this that the dolmen was probably never intended to be covered up with earth, or at the most only partially. The age of dolmens of this type is a matter of the greatest uncertainty. Although in a general way regarded as prehistoric burial-places, some of them may belong to post-Roman times.
TRIE-CHÂTEAU
is an interesting place. Its Hôtel de Ville is the Maison de Justice of the twelfth century, and it still has its round-headed windows with small pillars. The Romanesque façade of the church is richly ornamented, and the rest of the building belongs to the twelfth, thirteenth, and sixteenth centuries.
A fortified gateway (fifteenth century) of the château is passed through on the way to Gisors, and by it is a big round tower of the same period, although much restored. There can also be seen vaulted underground portions of this formerly important castle.
Charles François Dupuis, who wrote ‘Origins de tous les Cultes’—a book which did much to precipitate the irreligious crisis of the Revolution—was born at Trie-Château in 1742.
On entering Gisors there is a bad caniveau.