Ermitage Saint-Pons, Castle ruin and hermitage in Saint-Pierre-des-Tripiers, France

Ermitage Saint-Pons is a cave and former hermitage beneath the side cliffs of the Causse Méjean plateau, above the Gorges du Tarn near Le Rozier. The cave holds the ruin of the old watch castle of Roquevaire, which guarded the passage through the gorge, and the remains of the hermit chapel of Saint Pons. A mountain path from the Rocher de Capluc passes through the cave and on to the castle and chapel ruins.

The site began as Roquevaire, a watch castle guarding the passage through the Gorges du Tarn, built into the cliff beneath the Causse Méjean above the valley near Le Rozier. After the castle fell into ruin, hermits occupied the cave and the site took the name hermitage Saint-Pons, with a small hermit chapel added by the ruins.

The site takes its name from Saint Pons, the hermit who settled in the cave after the castle was abandoned. The path from the Rocher de Capluc passes through the cave itself before reaching the ruins of the castle and the later hermitage chapel, so walkers cross the hermit's former dwelling on foot.

The site is reached by a mountain path that climbs the steep slope on the left bank of the Tarn from the hamlet of Rocher de Capluc above Le Rozier. The trail passes through the cave first, then continues to the castle ruins and the hermitage chapel of Saint-Pons. Sturdy footwear is needed and some sections of the ruins are fragile.

Square holes visible in the rock face once held wooden floor beams, revealing how builders cleverly used the natural cliff as their structure. The rock overhang itself functioned as a natural roof sheltering the entire settlement.