Lesterps

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Lesterps
L'Esterp
Coat of arms of Lesterps
Lesterps (France)
Lesterps
region Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department Charente
Arrondissement Confolens
Canton Charente-Vienne
Community association Charente limousine
Coordinates 46 ° 1 ′  N , 0 ° 47 ′  E Coordinates: 46 ° 1 ′  N , 0 ° 47 ′  E
height 170-275 m
surface 36.03 km 2
Residents 479 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 13 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 16420
INSEE code 16182

Lesterps - townscape with Saint-Pierre church

Lesterps ( Occitan : L'Esterp ) is a place and a community with 479 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in western France Charente in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine . The community consists of several hamlets ( hameaux ) and individual farmsteads .

location

The place Lesterps lies at an altitude of about 225 m above sea level. d. M. in the east of the department about 5 km southwest of the border with the Haute-Vienne department . The place belongs to the old cultural landscape of the Angoumois , part of the Charente landscape and is about 75 km (driving distance) to the northeast from the city of Angoulême and only about 48 km to the northwest from the city of Limoges .

Population development

year 1800 1851 1901 1954 1999 2013
Residents 1,510 1,361 1,413 906 594 496

The continuous decline in population in the 20th century is mainly due to the consequences 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 . Craftsmen and small traders settled in the village, and the medieval abbey offered them permanent employment. 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 is no longer of great importance. 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

During the time of Roman rule over Gaul , a Roman road ran through the municipality as a connection to the Via Agrippa .

The Benedictine abbey (later an Augustinian monastery) was founded around the year 980 , which gave important impetus to the emergence and development of the place and the region; numerous priory churches depended on it. Until the 11th century the place belonged to the historical province of Limousin, then to the Angoumois. Lesterps was on a branch line of the Camino de Santiago . During the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) and the Huguenot Wars (1562-1598), the abbey was repeatedly attacked and destroyed.

Attractions

Houses with pillars
  • The current parish church of Saint-Pierre is the last remaining part of the medieval abbey. The 43 m high bell tower shows a three-portal triumphal arch scheme on the ground floor ; behind it is a three - aisled barrel - vaulted narthex with archaic-looking capitals . The eastern parts of the church, including the apse, collapsed in 1815 and a few decades later Paul Abadie completely demolished and renewed them. Two Romanesque capitals and three circular disks with figure reliefs, which are influenced by the sculpture of the Angoumois (e.g. Cellefrouin or Lichères ), are still preserved and attached to the wall of the south aisle. The building has been recognized as a monument historique since 1862 .
  • In a restored three-storey half - timbered house ( Maison du Patrimoine ) in the immediate vicinity of the abbey there is an exhibition on the history and importance of the medieval monastery.
  • The pillars of the nave of the abbey church can still be found on some buildings in a small square .
  • A simple chapel with a late Gothic keel arch portal is located in the local cemetery.
  • A mound about ten meters high indicates the existence of an early medieval fortification ( moth ).

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lesterps - Viticulture
  2. ↑ Église Saint-Pierre, Lesterps in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)