Couture (Charente)
| Couture | ||
|---|---|---|
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| region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente | |
| Arrondissement | Confolens | |
| Canton | Charente North | |
| Community association | Val de Charente | |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 56 ' N , 0 ° 7' E | |
| height | 79-135 m | |
| surface | 10.61 km 2 | |
| Residents | 159 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 15 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 16460 | |
| INSEE code | 16114 | |
 Church Saint-Hilaire |
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Couture is a place and a community with 159 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in western France Charente in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine . The municipality owns several hamlets ( hamlets ) and farmsteads .
location
The place Couture is at an altitude of about 100 m above sea level. d. M. in the north of the Charente department in the old cultural landscape of southern Poitou or northern Angoumois , part of the Charente landscape . The place is about 44 km (driving distance) northeast of the city of Angoulême ; it is around 83 km north to Poitiers . The small town of Ruffec is only 14 km away.
Population development
| year | 1800 | 1851 | 1901 | 1954 | 1999 | 2013 |
| Residents | 620 | 734 | 441 | 275 | 158 | 162 |
The continuous decline in population since the late 19th century is mainly due to the loss of jobs as a result of the phylloxera crisis in viticulture and the increasing mechanization of agriculture .
economy
The place and its surroundings were dominated by agriculture for centuries; most people lived on a self-sufficient basis . In the late Middle Ages and in the early modern period, viticulture was promoted, but - after the phylloxera crisis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - it was almost stopped and its former importance is still today, despite its location in the Bon Bois of the Cognac wine-growing region has not recovered. 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 ) .
history
Celtic , Roman , Gallo-Roman or early medieval finds have not yet been made. The area formerly part of the historical province of Poitou was annexed by the Counts of Angoulême in the 11th or 12th century . The church, built in the 11th century, was part of a priory of the Abbey of Nanteuil . Nothing is known about the destruction during the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) or the Huguenot Wars (1562–1598).
Attractions
The former priory church and today's parish church of Saint-Hilaire is a simple, single-nave building made of rubble stones from the late 11th century; On the other hand, the portal and the raised and flat-closing apse together with its defensive tower structure date from the 12th century . The inner arch of the portal shows a segment arch that was unusual for the time . The nave is not articulated and plastered and is spanned by a vaulted, also un articulated, wooden ceiling, which has probably replaced an open roof structure . Only in the apse was the plaster removed and the rather precisely hewn stones come to light. A chapel was built on the north side , which is illuminated by a late Gothic window. The church has been recognized as a monument historique since 1925 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Couture - viticulture
- ↑ Église Saint-Hilaire, Couture in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)