This chapel was built in 1726 following a plague epidemic which spread across Provence but did not afflict Cairanne. It is dedicated to Saint Roch the saint patron of plague victims. It is a massive building without any architectural interest with heavy buttresses. The main point of interest is the arched bell-tower built on top of the ramparts. The bell was set up recently thanks to the non profit organization “Cairanne et son vieux village”.
However this chapel stands as a moving testimony of how frightening the plague was, a fatal affliction that made people turn towards faith as the last resort since medicine in those days had no cure for it . We have to wait until 1894 to discover the origin of this epidemic: a bacilli carried by a rat flea and responsible for epidemics by flea bites on man. This chapel is no longer used by the religious community and belongs to the commune.