La Rochette (Charente)

La Rochette ; La Rocheta
region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Charente
Arrondissement	Angoulême
Canton	Val de Tardoire
Community association	La Rochefoucauld-Porte du Périgord
Coordinates	45 ° 48 ′ N , 0 ° 19 ′ E Coordinates: 45 ° 48 ′ N , 0 ° 19 ′ E
height	66-115 m
surface	10.99 km 2
Residents	533 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	48 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	16160
INSEE code	16282
	; Saint-Sébastien

La Rochette ( Occitan : La Rocheta ) is a municipality and a town with 533 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the western French department of Charente in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine . The community consists of several hamlets ( hameaux ) and individual farmsteads .

location

The place La Rochette is located on the south bank of the Tardoire in the old cultural landscape of the Angoumois , part of the Charente , at an altitude of about 75 m above sea level. d. M. and is about 25 km (driving distance) in a north-easterly direction from the city of Angoulême .

Finds from La Rochette in the Musée d'Angoulême

Population development

year	1800	1851	1901	1954	1999	2013
Residents	767	851	575	393	442	541

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 . Due to the relative proximity to the city of Angoulême and the significantly lower property prices in the country, the number of residents has increased again since the 1960s.

economy

For centuries, the residents of the village lived on the produce of their fields and gardens as self-sufficiency ; some also worked as craftsmen and small traders. In the late Middle Ages and early modern times, viticulture was promoted, but - after the phylloxera crisis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - it never reached the old level again. Tourism also plays a not insignificant role for the economic life of the municipality in the form of renting holiday apartments ( gîtes ).

history

Small Bronze Age and Iron Age finds were made in the municipality ; Of great archaeological importance are the jugs, vases and bowls etc. from the Grotte des Duffaits , which are now on display in the Musée d'Angoulême . Some late Roman coins and - elsewhere - an ancient stone sarcophagus were also discovered. In the Middle Ages, the place was on a branch line of the Way of St. James ( Via Turonensis ); Because of the solid construction and the elaborate building decoration, the church of the village is likely to have been a former priory church . The changing landlord families of the place have been known since 1610 ; in the course of the French Revolution all manorials were dissolved.

Attractions

The parish church of Saint-Sébastien was built in the late 11th or early 12th century and is largely made of precisely hewn stones. The apse , tower and facade are largely unstructured; the ground floor of the facade shows the triumphal arch scheme typical of church buildings in the Charente, with glare portals on the side , the slightly pointed arched fields of which are, however, relatively elaborately designed with figures (riders and conquered). The transition to the rectangular gable field (cf. Agris , Nersac et al.) Is formed by a figural console frieze interrupted by a window with inserted columns , which continues below the eaves of the nave . The nave is vaulted by a pointed barrel with belt arches . The rural church building, covered with stone shingles ( lauzes ), has been recognized as a monument historique since 1941 . The baroque altar carved from Kolz shows twisted columns and is classified separately as a monument historique .

The Château de La Rochette , located on the northern outskirts, dates from the transition period from the 16th to the 17th century. The uniformly designed building consists of a large residential wing ( corps de logis ) with four corner round towers , which apparently no longer functioned as stair towers . The castle building, with a few cross-frame windows , has been recognized as a monument historique since 1992