I have become interested in my French Huguenot ancestors and am writing a story very loosely based on their experiences. I recently retuned from a fascinating trip to Castillon de Bataille, originally called Castillon sur Dordogne, which is on the River Dordogne not far from Bordeaux. My maternal grandmother’s family lived there until the late 17th century when they escaped Louis IV’s persecution of the Huguenots and fled to London where they were able, once more, to worship freely. The Huguenots were by and large professionals, artisans and minor nobility who worked hard and were successful. King Louis’s determination to create ‘One King, One Faith, One Realm’ meant that France lost thousands of talented people who preferred to leave their country of origin and settle in another Protestant country where they were welcomed and prospered.

If Huguenots did not recant their faith they lost all privileges. My own ancestors were doctors and lawyers and they were banned from practising their professions and had their land confiscated. And there were many Huguenots in the region who were hounded by the King’s dragoons and tortured and even put to death if they refused to deny their faith.

I met two local historians in Castillon who were able to tell me more of the privations these followers of Calvin endured and put me straight on some of the historical facts. It was really helpful to see the layout of the town, walk along the banks of the great River Dordogne and imagine my forbears living in the prosperous ‘faubourg’ outside the main city centre and travelling across the river to visit their farms on the other side, at Pujols .

After the Wars of Religion finally ended, Louis XIII, Louis IV’s father, decreed that the city walls and defences of any strongly Protestant towns were destroyed, but you can still see the remains of some of it and of the great Porte de Fer, the ‘River Gate’ which was the Southern entrance to the town.

We visited a nearby Protestant ‘temple’. Not 17th century, but it did give an idea of the look of the temples of the time, which, again, had been destroyed on orders of the King.

During their persecution, the Huguenots worshipped in secret, meeting in woods or deserted countryside, and in the Protestant museum in La Rochelle, I saw a collapsible wooden pulpit which would have been used on these occasions.

I also visited the town of La Tremblade, further up the West Coast and stood on the sand dunes by the Cote Sauvage, from where many Huguenots escaped to England.

All in all a really useful trip and I feel that I can now picture the lives and tribulations of my French ancestors much more clearly.