Grottes du Régulus

The Régulus caves are dug into the limestone cliffs overlooking the Gironde estuary, at Meschers-sur-Gironde, about ten kilometres from Royan, in Charente-Maritime. Natural cavities, formed by the dissolution of the rock, were enlarged by hand. Their name comes from the Régulus, a warship that its captain scuttled in 1814 to prevent it falling into English hands.

The place was occupied from prehistory, then by modest families. Tradition also sees there Saracen grain silos, a Protestant place of worship during the wars of religion and the lair of a legendary wreck-plunderer named Cadet. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, inhabitants lived there, including Marie Guichard until her death in 1923, and guinguettes welcomed bathers there. Some cavities became second homes for well-off families, such as the Hennessys. The commune acquired the site in 1980 and opened it to the public in 1986.

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