Bessac
| Bessac | ||
|---|---|---|
|
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| region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente | |
| Arrondissement | Angoulême | |
| Canton | Tude-et-Lavalette | |
| Community association | Lavalette Tude Dronne | |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 26 ′ N , 0 ° 1 ′ W | |
| height | 62-162 m | |
| surface | 10.55 km 2 | |
| Residents | 107 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 10 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 16250 | |
| INSEE code | 16041 | |
 Bessac - Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church |
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Bessac is a western French community with 107 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Charente in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine .
location
Bessac is located about 36 kilometers (driving distance) southwest of Angoulême in the cultural landscape of the Angoumois at an altitude of about 90 meters above sea level. d. The Arce river runs through the municipality.
Population development
| year | 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2006 | 2017 |
| Residents | 213 | 189 | 152 | 147 | 139 | 131 | 128 | 107 |
In the first half of the 19th century the community always had around 500 inhabitants; As a result of the phylloxera crisis in viticulture and the mechanization of agriculture , the number of inhabitants then fell continuously to the current lows.
economy
For centuries, the inhabitants of the community lived from agriculture; the soils of the municipality belong to the fins bois of the Cognac wine-growing region , but sales of expensive brandies have tended to decline in recent decades, so that viticulture no longer plays an important role today. Tourism in the form of rental of holiday homes has contributed to the municipality's income since the 1960s.
history
The presence of a Romanesque church suggests the existence of a village in medieval times.
Attractions
- The largely unadorned Romanesque parish church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. Century. The buttresses in the corners of the west facade are provided with small weir cores ( bretèches ) in the upper part . The quarry stone masonry of the outer walls, which were not reinforced by buttresses, could not support a vault and so the nave of the single-nave church is spanned by an open roof to this day .
- On a hill about two kilometers to the northeast ( 45 ° 26 ′ 18 ″ N , 0 ° 0 ′ 48 ″ E ) there is a windmill built in 1791 from rubble stones and in use until the 20th century however, have suffered in the storms of the past few decades. The building has been recognized as a monument historique since 2002 . Of another windmill in the immediate vicinity, only the stump, also made of rubble stones, is preserved.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Moulin à vent de la Paille, Bessac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)