Avrillé (Vendée)
| Avrillé | ||
|---|---|---|
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| region | Pays de la Loire | |
| Department | Vendée | |
| Arrondissement | Les Sables-d'Olonne | |
| Canton | Talmont-Saint-Hilaire | |
| Community association | Vendée Grand Littoral | |
| Coordinates | 46 ° 28 ′ N , 1 ° 30 ′ W | |
| height | 2-64 m | |
| surface | 25.03 km 2 | |
| Residents | 1,420 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 57 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 85440 | |
| INSEE code | 85010 | |
 Avrillé - menhir and church |
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Avrillé is a western French community with 1,420 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Vendée in the region of Pays de la Loire . It belongs to the canton of Talmont-Saint-Hilaire in the Arrondissement of Les Sables-d'Olonne .
location
The place Avrillé is about ten kilometers from the Atlantic coast and is at an altitude of about 46 m above sea level. d. M. The next largest city is La Roche-sur-Yon , about 27 kilometers northeast ; the famous seaside resort of Les Sables-d'Olonne is about 30 kilometers to the west. Avrillé has a train station. The megalithic monuments in the neighboring village of Le Bernard, only 5 km away, are also worth seeing .
history
Several menhirs testify to the presence of people in the Neolithic Age . So far there are no archaeologically usable traces from Roman and Gallo-Roman times. The place formerly surrounded by swamps towards the sea already existed in Merovingian times; the successive drainage of the swamps made it possible to expand the arable land, so that the place grew more and more. A priory existed here in the 11th century.
Attractions
- The menhir of Bourg-Jardin , about 7.20 m high and weighing about 85 tons, stands in a garden behind the town hall. It is smoothed on all sides by the forces of nature, but also by human hands. After a few menhirs in Brittany ( menhir from Kerloas , menhir from Champ Dolent , menhir from Saint-Uzec ) it is one of the largest in France. In 1889 it was recognized as a Monument historique .
- The bell tower of the late Romanesque parish church of Saint-Pierre , built from a mixture of broken and house stones , collapsed in 1805; it was replaced around 60 years later by a new building with a pointed roof. The small portal on the south side could indicate the former priory church .
- Around the middle of the 19th century, a washing area ( lavoir ) and a market hall ( hall ) were built.
outside
- The menhir de la Boilière , about 4.7 m high and weighing about 25 tons, is located on private property approx. 300 m east of the village ; in front of him is a stone slab lying on the floor, which is sometimes interpreted as a sacrificial stone . The menhir has been recognized as a monument historique since 1889 .
- Further menhirs stand in the row of stones La Petite Pierre and du Bois du Fourgon or Menhir de la Fontaine Saint-Grés, Menhir de la Pièce-du-Rocher, Menhirs du Champ de la Pierre and Pierre branlante individually or in pairs in the vicinity of the village .
- La Guignardière Castle ( 46 ° 28 ′ 29.3 ″ N , 1 ° 30 ′ 32.8 ″ W ), located about 1.5 km northwest of the town, dates from the late 16th century. It is privately owned and was classified as a Monument historique in 1978 . In the castle garden, several menhirs carved like stelae and copies of Moais from Easter Island were set up.
See also: List of Monuments historiques in Avrillé (Vendée)
Population development
| year | 1800 | 1851 | 1901 | 1954 | 1999 | 2013 |
| Residents | 680 | 1,025 | 1,250 | 884 | 1.008 | 1,305 |
Around 1900 Avrillé had a population of about 1,250; thereafter it sank to around 850 in the 1960s and then rose to its highest level at the end of the millennium.
economy
The place and its surroundings were dominated by agriculture for centuries; most people lived on a self-sufficient basis ; In the village itself, various craft and service professions developed . In the late Middle Ages and early modern times, in addition to farming and a little cattle breeding, viticulture was practiced on a small scale , but this was almost stopped after the phylloxera crisis in the late 19th century. Since the 1960s tourism has played a not insignificant role in the economic life of the municipality in the form of renting out holiday homes ( gîtes ).
literature
- Le Patrimoine des Communes de la Vendée. Flohic Editions, Volume 2, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-84234-118-X , pp. 1125-1128.
Web links
- Avrillé, history and monuments - photos + info (French)
- Avrillé, church - photos
- Avrillé, menhir de la Boilière - Photo + tooltips (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Menhir du Bourg-Jardin, Avrillé in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Menhir de la Boitière, Avrillé in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Menhir de la Fontaine Saint-Gré, Avrillé in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Menhir de la Pièce-du-Devant, Avrillé in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Menhir de la Pièce-du-Rocher, Avrillé in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Menhirs de la Bois-du-Fourgon, Avrillé in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Menhirs du Champ-de-la-Pierre, Avrillé in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Pierre branlante, Avrillé in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Château de Guignardière, Avrillé in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Avrillé - Viticulture