Cucugnan trip planner

Cucugnan is a commune in the Aude department in southern France, approximately 29.5km north-west of Perpignan. The small village lies in a valley in the Corbières mountains, overlooked by the ruined Château de Quéribus, which stands at the top of a 728m hill to the south of Cucugnan.HistoryThe first documented mention of a settlement called Cucuniano is a record of a gift of land from Roger I, Count of Carcassonne to the Abbey of Lagrasse in the year 951. In the 13th century, during the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars, the Lord of Cucugnan participated in the Cathar resistance before he was forced to submit to King Louis IX. In 1495, Cucugnan was destroyed by the Spanish invaders and a new village grew up around the ruined medieval village.LandmarksThe village is clustered around a small hill, at the top of which stands its main landmark, a 17th-century windmill, the Moulin d'Omer. The windmill was owned by the Lords of Cucugnan until the French Revolution and was mentioned in historical archives dating from 1692. By the 1830s, it had fallen into ruin, but it was rebuilt and brought back into working order in a restoration project in 2003. Today the windmill is used for milling wheat and other grains for local culinary use.