Overview
Parish of Clermont, given in 1080 by Aimon de Veauce, chevalier, to the abbey of S-Leger of Ebreuil. In the 12th century church: the nave has lost its western bays and the remaining two bays have been very heavily rebuilt, with its central barrel vault and quadrant vauls in the aisles. The crossing bay has squinches and an octagonal domical vault supporting the central tower. Apsidal chapels open off the tall barrel-vaulted transept arms. The stubby choir has a groin-vaulted ambulatory but no radiating chapels. The columns of the ambulatory are incredibly slender: they support plain capitals (once painted) and elongated rounded arches, the axial arch wider than the others. The choir has clerestory windows: in the interior these windows are set in an arcade with bland panels alternating with the window openings. The exterior massing and articulation are particularly beautiful. The piling of masses from ambulatory to upper choir clerestory to central tower. The blind arcades attached to the transept façade recall Ebreuil; the deep arcading of the nave recalls the great churches of the Auvergne.
