Charras (Charente)

Charras Charreç
region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Charente
Arrondissement	Angoulême
Canton	Val de Tardoire
Community association	La Rochefoucauld-Porte du Périgord
Coordinates	45 ° 33 '  N , 0 ° 25'  E Coordinates: 45 ° 33 '  N , 0 ° 25'  E
height	125-202 m
surface	15.12 km 2
Residents	337 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	22 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	16380
INSEE code	16084
Saint Vivien Church

Charras ( Occitan : Charreç ) is a municipality and a town with 337 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the western French department of Charente in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine .

location

The place Charras is located near the border with the Dordogne department in the old cultural landscape of the Angoumois at an altitude of about 195 m above sea level. d. M. and is about 22 km (driving distance) in a south-easterly direction from the city of Angoulême .

Population development

year	1800	1851	1901	1954	1999	2013
Residents	685	843	594	390	298	388

The population decline in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century is mainly due to the loss of jobs as a result of the phylloxera crisis and the increasing mechanization of agriculture . The slight increase in population at the beginning of the 21st century is mainly due to the proximity to the city of Angoulême and the significantly lower property prices in the country.

economy

For centuries, the residents of the village lived on the yields of their fields and gardens as self-sufficiency . Wine was also grown, which - after the phylloxera crisis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - did not regain its old importance. In the 18th and 19th centuries, several ironworks were built in the wooded area . Tourism also plays a not insignificant role for the economic life of the municipality in the form of renting holiday apartments ( gîtes ).

history

At the end of the 10th century, the Grosbois Benedictine Abbey was built in the loneliness of the forest and joined the Cistercian order in the middle of the 12th century . However, the parish church of the village was subordinate to the Abbey of Saint-Cybard in Angoulême and later as the priory church of the Abbey of Saint-Sauveur in Figeac . In the 15th and 16th centuries and also during the Huguenot Wars (1562–1598), the local landlord family took over the regiment that they exercised until the French Revolution . In 1519, the French King Francis I granted the rather remote location the privilege of holding four fairs a year.

Attractions

Château de Charras

Abbaye de Grosbot

• The parish church and former priory church of Saint-Vivien is a building from the 12th century, which got its present form during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) by - resting on consoles - circular defensive oriels ( mâchicoulis ). The rudimentary triumphal arch scheme of the facade was also revised. Only the squat crossing tower remained original. The small windows of exposed nave with one of transverse arches subjected curved conical buoy ; the crossing , however, shows a rib vault . Church construction has been recognized as a monument historique since 1907 .
• The Château de Carras , built in the 17th and 18th centuries, is in the village. The privately owned building, which is partly used as a family hotel, was classified together with the gardens as a monument historique in 1992 .

outside

• The former Cistercian Abbey of Grosbois (or Grosbot ) is still surrounded by thick forest ( gros bois ) and is located about two kilometers northwest of Charras ( 45 ° 33 ′ 8 ″  N , 0 ° 23 ′ 51 ″  E ). The medieval church, crowned by a simple bell gable ( clocher mur ), has largely collapsed; the cloister ( cloître ) has completely disappeared. The enclosure buildings , renovated in the 17th and 18th centuries, are now privately owned. The complex has been recognized as a monument historique since 1992 .

Web links

Commons : Charras  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Charras, church - photos + information (French)
• Charras, church - floor plan, photos + information (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Charras - Viticulture
2. ↑ Eglise Saint-Vivien, Charras in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
3. ↑ Château, Charras in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
4. ↑ Abbaye de Grosbot, Charras in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)