The city hall and the gate | ©Anecdotrip.com / CC-BY-NC-SA
They created a third wall in the 15th century, when Loches became a royal city.
And they raised Picois gate, Cordeliers gate, Quintefol and Poitevine gates. Picois dates back to 1440.
We even can see cannons balls marks on the façade, dating back to wars of Religion (16th c.)!
On the façade in front of the city hall, we can see a little Virgin Mary statue, in her niche: the Vierge au cœur. It’s a copy from the 16th century.
But wait a minute… Where does this Picois name come from? I found several explanations, in fact.
In old French, picois refers to a pick. But it was also a family name: maybe the name of an important man who lived here? Or the name of the neighbouring suburb?