Alloue

Alloue

Coat of arms
Alloue

Coordinates: 46°01′38″N 0°30′57″E / 46.0272°N 0.5158°E / 46.0272; 0.5158Coordinates: 46°01′38″N 0°30′57″E / 46.0272°N 0.5158°E / 46.0272; 0.5158
Country France
Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department Charente
Arrondissement Confolens
Canton Champagne-Mouton
Intercommunality Confolentais
Government
  Mayor (20142020) Jean-Jacques Catrain
Area1 46.54 km2 (17.97 sq mi)
Population (2009)2 527
  Density 11/km2 (29/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 16007 / 16490
Elevation 136–231 m (446–758 ft)
(avg. 116 m or 381 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Alloue is a French commune in the Charente department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France.

Alloue was part of the province of Limousin and they speak the Occitan form of the Limousin dialect.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Allousiens or Allousiennes[1]

Geography

Location and access

Alloue is a commune located in the north-east of the Charente at the edge of the Charente Limousine and Ruffécois regions, 5 km south of the boundary of the department of Vienne. It belongs to the Community of communes of Confolentais.

The commune is 9 km east of Champagne-Mouton, capital of the canton, and 12 km west of Confolens. The main road that runs through the village and the commune from east to west is the D740, the former national road from Confolens in Niort via Ruffec (24 km) and via Champagne-Mouton. Angoulême is 50 km to the south-west and Limoges a similar distance to the south-east.[2] Alloue is also 15 km north of Saint-Claud and Roumazières-Loubert.[3]

Other minor departmental minor roads run through the commune such as the D169 from Roumazières-Loubert to Épenède and Pressac via Ambernac, the D171 towards Benest in the west, the D309 to Ansac-sur-Vienne in the south-east, the D312 heading north-east, and the D313 heading towards Manot in the south-east.[4]

Hamlets and localities

The commune has many small hamlets:

Chez Pasquet borders the town to the north as does La Cantine to the south of the town on the left bank of the river.[4]

Neighbouring communes

Geology

The land is composed of marl limestone dating from the Early Jurassic period in the valley and deposits of Clay from the Tertiary period on the slopes.[5][6][7]

The old Galena (lead and silver) mine at Beaumont was composed of veins on a fault which follows the valley of the Charente to Ambernac until it nearly reaches Asnois (Vienne) and passes through Alloue. The mine consists of tunnels dug into the rock.[8]

Relief

The relief of the commune is that of a plateau with an average altitude of 180 m, traversed from south to north by the valley of the Charente. The highest point is at an altitude of 231 m which is located in the Bois de Signes (Signes Forest) on the eastern edge of the commune. The lowest point is 136 m which is located along the Charente on the north-western boundary. The village is in the valley and on the right bank of the river and is 145 m above sea level.[4]

Hydrography

The Charente flows through the commune from south to north. The part in the commune is downstream of Roumazières and upstream of the Vienne department where the river makes an incursion before returning to Ruffec and Angoulême.

The Transon, a tributary on the right side of the Charente joining at Chatain (Vienne), rises in the south-east of the commune and along its eastern boundary.

The Charente has many small tributary streams rising in the commune such as the Ruisseau de la Forêt (Forest Stream) which flows in the northwest.

The Clain, a tributary of the Vienne passing Poitiers, rises in the commune of Hiesse 50 m from the communal boundary at Beau Clain. The watershed line between the basins of the Charente and the Loire crosses the eastern edge of the commune.

The commune of Alloue also has many ponds and small water reservoirs, mainly in the south-west.[4]

Dialects

The town is in the Occitan area of Marchois in contact with the Limousin dialect and marks the boundary with the Poitevin langue d'oil (to the northwest)[9][10]

Climate

As for a large part of the west of the department, the climate is an Aquitaine Oceanic climate but it is slightly degraded near the Charente Limousine area where the climate is more humid and slightly cooler.

Toponymy

The name of the commune Alloue is said to come from the Gallic word alauda meaning lark.

The hamlet of Beaumont comes from the French beau mont which means "beautiful hill".

Les Essarts was designated in the Middle Ages to be cleared of forest.

The hamlet of Fontbeau may take its name from the Latin fons or fontis meaning "source" and bellus meaning "handsome". It can therefore mean "beautiful spring" but it is more likely from the Occitan font bou (fons bovis in Latin) to the French fontaine de boeuf (fountain of beef).

For the hamlet of Masmayoux the origin is from the Latin major meaning "bigger" and mansus which had become mas by the Middle Ages and which designated an agricultural field. It can therefore lead to the meaning "large farm".

Les Repaires comes from the old French repair meaning house or fortified castle.[11]

History

Tools, particularly polished axes, and a tumulus have been found in Caillauds which attests to the antiquity of occupation of the area.

The old silver-lead mine in the commune has been worked since the Gallic era.

A Roman road passed by Alloue and its remains are visible at a place called les Repaires[12]

Alloue formed part of the province of Poitou as with most towns west of Confolentais and the Occitan language Limousin dialect was widely spoken under the Ancien Régime.

In 783 the name Alloue was mentioned when Roger, Count of Limoges gave land at Alloue for the creation of the Charroux Abbey. On 23 April 1121, Guillaume I, Bishop of Poitiers, donated the Alloue Church to the Abbey of Charroux. This Benedictine priory which had prior rights of low, medium and high justice was plundered in 1356 and then restored. In the 16th century the priory had four occupants and the prior. From a survey in 1547, the Priory of Alloue had twenty houses in the village and about 125 tenements in the parish and neighbouring parishes. On a 1740 plan they were shown next to the church with farm buildings and gardens. The priory closed in 1781. It was sold as national property during the Revolution.

There were four fiefs and castles on the territory:

The Fief of Geuche was mentioned in 1396, when it belonged to Perrenot La Lande. In the 17th century it was the property of the Gracieux family and was sold as national property during the Revolution.

The manoir de l'Age for which in 1399 Guy de l'Aage Landri, squire, made an admission to Aimar, the Abbot of Charroux that his "accommodation of l'Age de Volude in Alloue" . The word volude means a small valley and the word age a fortified enclosure. The Manoir de l'Age was successively occupied by the families Green de Marsault, L'Aage, and Verdilhac.

The Castle of Massignac in the 15th century belonged to the Tizon family then in the 16th century to the Barbarin family, passing to the Regnaud family, and finally by marriage to the Guiot family before being sold as national property during the Revolution.

A mill that existed in the north was destroyed.

The lordship of La Vergne had the rank of Châtelainie.

Heraldry

Blazon:

Sable, two chevrons Or in chief two lozenges azure bordure in Or.

Administration

Town Hall at Alloue

When the town was founded in 1793 it was named Allouë and it was the capital of the canton. In 1801, still with the same name, it belonged to the canton of Champagne-Mouton and it was only later that it became Alloue.

List of Successive Mayors of Alloue[13]

From To Name Party Position
Roger Brunet
1995 2001 Lucien Simonneau
2001 2008 Raymond Beaussand
2008 2014 Nathalie Vignaud-Landrevie SE Secretary of Insurance Agency
2014 2020 Jean-Jacques Catrain

(Not all data is known)

Demography

In 2009 the commune had 527 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the population censuses conducted in the town since 1793. From the 21st century, a census of municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger towns that have a sample survey every year.[Note 1]

Population Change (See database)
1793 1800 1806 1821 1831 1836 1841 1846 1851
1,720 1,560 1,347 1,616 1,659 - 1,647 1,715 1,688
1856 1861 1866 1872 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896
1,601 1,587 1,609 1,512 1,586 1,547 1,612 1,458 1,410
1901 1906 1911 1921 1926 1931 1936 1946 1954
1,411 1,399 1,332 1,196 1,233 1,133 1,093 1,054 1,003
1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2007 2009
923 818 758 649 599 528 505 512 527

Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1962, INSEE database from 1968 (population without double counting and municipal population from 2006)

Distribution of Age Groups

Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Alloue and Charente Department in 2007

Alloue Alloue Charente Charente
Age Range Men Women Men Women
0 to 14 Years 8.3 11.1 17.1 15.4
15 to 29 Years 17.7 12.3 16.7 14.7
30 to 44 Years 14.7 16.1 20.0 19.2
45 to 59 Years 24.1 19.2 22.3 21.5
60 to 74 Years 23.3 23.4 15.2 15.8
75 to 89 Years 11.7 17.6 8.2 11.8
90 Years+ 0.4 0.4 0.5 1.6

Sources:

With 1720 people at its inception, the commune has been the victim of a slow erosion that accelerated during the 20th century and has lost 70% of its population in two centuries.

Economy

The lead mine was worked since the Gallic era until after the abbot Michon. It was operated by a Sir Villain in the 18th century and in 1818, according to Quenot, there were a dozen open pits. Then the mine was operated by several concessionaires without much success due to the poor quality of the ore and the difficulty of separating the galena from the several intertwined minerals. A company was founded in 1821 then abandoned the mine in 1829, recovered, then abandoned it again and, after a last attempt in 1930, it was finally closed due to insufficient profitability.[8]

In the 19th century four mills were in operation. *one, a wheat mill, became an oil and dairy factory then the Charente was diverted.

Currently activity in the commune is mainly agricultural.

Shops include a baker, a restaurant and an agricultural parts merchant.

There are also a hairdresser, a bricklayer, an electrician/plumber/heating merchant, a bicycle repair shop and a landscaper.

Facilities, services and local life

Education

The school is a regroupment school covering Alloue, Ambernac, and Benest. Alloue has a primary school (both kindergarten and elementary); Benest and Ambernac have an elementary school.[14]

Other services

There is a post office and there are other services in the surrounding communities, mainly Confolens.

Sites and Monuments

Civil heritage

There are in excess of 200 sites in the commune that are registered as historical monuments with the majority of sites Houses or Farmhouses. For a complete list of historical sites in the commune together with links to descriptions (in French) and photos click here. A selection of the more interesting sites are described below.

The covered Lavoir or public laundry

There are also old Lavoirs at Masmayoux where the well is an uncovered rectangular basin fed by a spring that emerges from a cube of masonry and stone rubble[25] and near Lasfond which also has an uncovered basin.[26]

Religious Heritage

The Parish Church of Notre-Dame (12th century) is registered as an historical monument.[29] The church contains two items that are registered as historical objects:

The Church of Notre Dame

The church included both a parish church and a Benedictine priory (12th century)[32] founded by the monks of Charroux in the 8th century that stretched south and west of the church. The Priory of Alloue on the 1740 plan is presented as a set of buildings surrounded by a moat which joined the Charente. Currently the western part still remains – rebuilt in the 16th and 17th centuries. The lodgings of the prior was in line with the north wall of the church, preceded by a courtyard overlooking the street between the two towers. Another house has since been built on the site of the courtyard.

The Old Priory

There is a Cemetery Cross (1789) bearing the inscription "PIORRY NOTARY ET FABRIC/QUEUR 1789". This stone cross in a cylindrical drum is raised on a plinth consisting of four steps. In front, a stone font is located on a stone slab.[38]

Notable People linked to the commune

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes and references

Notes

  1. At the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of identification have been modified by law No. 2002-276 of 27 February 2002 , the so-called "law of local democracy" and in particular Title V "census operations" which allow, after a transitional period running from 2004 to 2008, the annual publication of the legal population of the different French administrative districts. For municipalities with a population greater than 10,000 inhabitants, a sample survey is conducted annually, the entire territory of these municipalities is taken into account at the end of the period of five years. The first "legal population" after 1999 under this new law came into force on 1 January 2009 and was based on the census of 2006.

References

  1. Inhabitants of Charente (French)
  2. Google Maps
  3. Orthodromic distances from ACME Mapper
  4. 1 2 3 4 IGN Map on the Géoportail
  5. BRGM Map on the Géoportail (French)
  6. Terrain Visualiser, BRGM website. (French)
  7. Confolens Notice, BRGM, 1983, consulted on 3 November 2011 (French)
  8. 1 2 French Ministry of Culture Notice IA16001542 Lead Mine (French)
  9. Charles De Tourtoulon and Olivier Bringuier, Geographical Limits of the Occitan and the langue d'oil dialects, Paris, Imprimerie nationale (réimprimé en 2007 par Massert-Meuzac, IEO), 1876, 63 p.
    Map of the Limits of Occitan and langue d'oil in France
    (French)
  10. Jean-Hippolyte Michon, Monumental Statistics of the Charente, Paris, Derache (reprinted in 1980 by Bruno Sépulchre, Paris), 1844, 334 p. Read online, p. 55 (French)
  11. Jean-Marie Cassagne and Stéphane Seguin, Origin of the names of towns and villages in Charente, Jean-Michel Bordessoules, 1998, 311 p., passages: 12,32,113,120,181,207 and 225, ISBN 2-913471-06-4
  12. 1 2 French Ministry of Culture Notice IA16001456 Presentation of Alloue (French)
  13. List of Mayors of France (French)
  14. Directory of Schools, Academic Inspectorate of Charente, consulted on 29 July 2012
  15. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001660 Irrigation Canal (French)
  16. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001643 Chateau of Massignac (French)
  17. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001515 Gueuche Chateau (French)
  18. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001671 L'Age Manor (French)
  19. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001655 Beau-Chêne Manor (French)
  20. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée PA16000021 L'Age Manor (French)
  21. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001516 Pavillon Manor (French)
  22. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001495 Rioumort Bridge (French)
  23. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001464 Pont-Neuf (French)
  24. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001461 Covered Lavoir (French)
  25. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001533 Lavoir at Masmayoux (French)
  26. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001615 Lavoir at Lasfond (French)
  27. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001507 Chez Paire Fountain (French)
  28. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001496 Rioumort Fountain (French)
  29. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée PA00104199 Parish Church of Notre-Dame (French)
  30. Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM16000003 Statue: Virgin and Child (French)
  31. Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM16000002 Altar (French)
  32. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001457 Benedictine Priory of Notre-Dame (French)
  33. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001538 Wayside Cross at the D740 and D169 crossroads (French)
  34. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001640 Wayside Cross at Chez Pasquet (French)
  35. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001658 Wayside Cross near Le Beau (French)
  36. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001586 Wayside Cross at Chez Grillaud (French)
  37. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001541 Wayside Cross at Les Redons (French)
  38. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA16001653 Cemetery Cross (French)
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