Chazot is a village whose most arresting landmark is almost an absence: the Puits Fenoz, where water from the Sancey valley sinks into limestone instead of continuing as a surface stream. The opening lies close to the settlement, on the approach from Sancey, and gives this small rural commune a character shaped as much by geology and water as by its church and everyday life. It is a place to visit attentively: the sinkhole is a protected natural site, not a cave attraction to enter.
A population tied to a precise boundary
INSEE's 2023 reference population is 117 municipal residents and 117 in total, with no residents counted separately. Those figures became legally effective on 1 January 2026 and refer to the whole commune, not just the houses around the church. The intercommunal community gives the territory as 5.35 square kilometres, with elevations from 428 to 641 metres, and calls residents Chazots. INSEE's longer series records 160 people in 1968 and 117 in 2023; the six-year change from 2017 is modest, so a single number should not be mistaken for a live headcount.
The church and what records actually protect
The Nativité-de-Notre-Dame church was built between 1703 and 1716, according to the Pays de Sancey-Belleherbe community. Its local description emphasizes the rich interior: a principal altar, two side altars and retables, a polychrome pulpit and a ceiling painted in an Italianate manner. The Ministry of Culture's Palissy register confirms a more exact point: the two secondary altars and retables, and the carved, gilded wooden pulpit, are protected movable objects classified in 1945. That distinction matters when describing the heritage status; the protected entries name the furnishings. The community's cultural guide also places this church among the region's notable visits. Ask locally about opening before planning an interior visit.
Floods, karst and a story told as legend
The Puits Fenoz is not simply a dark hole in a field. The regional government's site record identifies it as one of the swallow holes draining the closed Sancey-valley basin, with water reappearing at the Source Bleue. A local intercommunal bulletin describes more than 21 kilometres of streams and losses in the Buhin network, and recounts floods in 1789, 1882, 1910 and 1983. Its account makes clear why low ground can be inundated when the karst system cannot take the flow. The same bulletin tells the tale of Jean-Noël, a card player supposedly carried into the shaft by the devil and hauled back with church-bell ropes. It is local folklore, not verified biography; its enduring value is the way it gives a memorable voice to a hazardous landscape.
Work, shared services and nearby food traditions
Chazot's economy is small enough that figures need careful reading. INSEE counted 51 employed residents aged 15 or over in 2023. Its end-of-2024 register lists two establishments with employees in the commune, both small; the data are a statistical snapshot, not a full list of farms, trades or self-employed people. The wider Pays de Sancey-Belleherbe highlights dairy fruitières and Comté as regional know-how, with cooperatives in nearby communities such as Sancey and Belleherbe. This is the surrounding food landscape rather than a claim that a cheese dairy operates in Chazot itself. The mairie lists a Monday morning permanence, while the intercommunal area provides shared services and demand-responsive transport; reconfirm office hours, eligibility and reservations before relying on them.
A circuit that connects Chazot to its neighbours
The official Circuit touristique de Belvoir makes the village one stop in a wider day out. Explore Doubs lists it as a 27.6-kilometre loop beginning and ending in Sancey, marked easy and estimated at two and a half hours, with 509 metres of ascent and descent. Its route passes through Chazot, Orve, Rahon and Belvoir, approaching the Nativité church after the castle. The figures are the route publisher's estimate; download the current GPX and verify the activity type, waymarking, access, weather and any closures before departure. Sancey offers the practical starting point and nearby heritage services; Belvoir adds its castle and historic market halls. Chazot's own reward is subtler: a church interior worth seeking out and a valley whose water has a hidden itinerary of its own.
