The origins of the present Chelva town can be found in the 11th century, when the ruling Moors established a fortress. The original city center was developed adjacent to the castle. It was enclosed by a wall with four gates (one is still visible, San Cristobal). Because of these fortifications, Chelva was a town of considerable importance during the Muslim rule.
The castle was converted as a palace where the Viscount of Chelva stayed from the late 14th century. The building evolved architecturally, eventually presiding over the Main Plaza. An Iberian occupation from the 4th century B.C. has recently been discovered, and the location of Chelva’s first Christian church within the castle walls from the 13th century has been confirmed.
Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).