The first place you come to on the road into the park from Argentières is LA BÂTIE, where there are remains of the so-called Mur des Vaudois. The origins of the wall are uncertain: it was probably built either to keep out companies of marauding soldiers-turned-bandits, or to control the spread of plague in the fourteenth century. The wall has nothing, however, to do with The Valdois, a sect prominent in this part of the country.A couple of kilometres beyond La Bâtie on the right is the lovely village of LES VIGNEAUX, surrounded by apple orchards and backed by the fierce crags of Montbrison. The village church has a fine old door and lock under a vaulted porch. Beside it on the exterior wall of the church are two bands of paintings depicting the Seven Deadly Sins. A man carrying a leg of mutton and drinking wine from a flask represents Gluttony, while a woman with rouged cheeks, green stockings and an enticing expanse of thigh on display, represents Lust. In the lower band they are all getting their comeuppance, writhing in the agonies of hellfire. Alternate spellings:: France, La Bātie, La Bâtie, La Batie
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