Mas-de-Londres - Grand Pic Saint-Loup tourist office

Mas-de-Londres was situated along the road from Montpellier to Ganges, and a fortified castle and a small Romanesque church were erected there in the Middle Ages, both buildings being mentioned in the 12th century.

Of the medieval castle of Mas-de-Londres, only a section of ramparts pierced with loopholes is easily identifiable. It was replaced in the 16th century by a beautiful residence built by the local lord, a member of the Roquefeuil family. However, gradually abandoned by the family, it fell into ruin and ended up in the hands of a mason in 1840. The stones were then used as building materials. The church, which is listed, has well-preserved walls that still bear the traces of the alterations imposed by the lord in the 17th century.

Leaving the medieval village, you will head towards the school and town hall, below, to reach a small hillside lake very easily on foot. The lake of La Jasse, with its very silty bottom, is suitable for fishing and mid-season walks. The Pic Saint-Loup dominates the blue surface from which the croaking of frogs rises; the scrubland is populated with rosemary trees over which a colony of bee-eaters flies in the summer; several species of orchids contribute to the rich biodiversity of the site.

What is the origin of "London"? In Celtic times, Llyn dinas, which became the city of London, designated "the hill of the pond" for our English neighbours.

In Languedoc, Loundro would have meant "mud, stagnant water" and the terms Lundras, Lundrias, Doundras, which after mutation gave London, were used in medieval writings to characterise our now dried-up valley. Nevertheless, it is often drowned in the mist that escapes from the land that was once overgrown by marshes.