P4 - Spèches - 6km

The Calvary was once surrounded by two large beeches that were used for hangings. The surrounding countryside is known as Sur le Gibet (“On the Gallows”). It is said that on April 20, 1616, Catherine Goffinet-Compère, accused of witchcraft, was strangled here and then burned…

The Spèches are now very diverse woodlands where conifers, high forest, and coppiced broadleaf stands mingle. The Pré Coulon Stream is crossed at the place known as A la Planchette. A large flat stone makes it possible to cross the stream. Another, even larger, lies a kilometer downstream. The area is marshy and bears the name Maladrerie. This is the boundary between the territories of Porcheresse and Our. Were lepers isolated here? (“malladre” = leprosy) Or was it rather a cattle charnel ground (in veterinary science, “ladrerie” still refers to a disease of pigs)?

Once the road has been crossed, the path runs alongside the Pré Coulon stream, not far from its source. It slips beneath a dense cover of willows and marsh plants. A word to naturalists! The plantations that follow offer an opportunity to learn how to distinguish spruce, on the right, from Douglas fir, on the left. Spruce needles are prickly, the others are not. A crushed shoot in the hand releases a resin scent for spruce, and a lemongrass scent for Douglas fir. Douglas fir, a fast-growing tree, was introduced from North America by the nurseryman Douglas in 1827.

But back to Merovingian times: around the 8th century, there was a “villa,” an estate, in Graide. The pig farming for this estate was located at Porcaritias, the future Porcheresse. Does the place name Verdunet recall this livestock area? La Maladrerie and Verdunet: two place names close to each other, south of Porcheresse, that undoubtedly evoke the origins of the village.