Rogues

Rogues
region	Occitania
Department	Gard
Arrondissement	Le Vigan
Canton	Le Vigan
Community association	Pays Viganais
Coordinates	43 ° 53 '  N , 3 ° 34'  E Coordinates: 43 ° 53 '  N , 3 ° 34'  E
height	215-685 m
surface	30.22 km 2
Residents	107 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	4 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	30120
INSEE code	30219
The castle of Madières

The Vis gorge at Madières

Rogues is a French commune with 107 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Gard department in the Occitanie region .

geography

The municipality of Rogues is located on the extreme southern edge of the Cevennes Mountains . The regional capital Montpellier is 41 kilometers and Nîmes 64 kilometers away. It is an extremely sparsely populated area, the landscape of which is characterized by the limestone plateau Causse de Blandas and the river Vis running south . In the higher area is the village of Rogues, while the district of Madières is on the banks of the Vis. The Vis flows through a ravine that is bordered by high, wooded slopes. The high plateau adjacent to the north with the district of Rogues contains in particular vegetation in the form of meadows.

There are several caves around the slopes of the Vis Gorge, of which the Aven de Rogues is the most important.

The neighboring municipalities of Rogues are Montdardier in the north, Gorniès in the east, Saint-Jean-de-Buèges in the south-east, Saint-Maurice-Navacelles in the south and west and Blandas in the north-west. Along the Vis in the south, the communal border also forms the border with the neighboring Département Hérault . The part of the village of Madières on the other side of the river belongs to the neighboring municipality of Saint-Maurice-Navacelles and thus also to the Hérault department.

Infrastructure

Via the D48 running through the municipality, Rogues is connected to the small town of Le Vigan in a northerly direction via Montdardier . To the south, the road connects to the D25, which in turn leads west to Ganges . From there there are connections to Montpellier and Nîmes.

climate

Climatically, the area is shaped by the conditions on the plateau, which are also carried over to the Vis valley. The winters have little precipitation and temperatures can drop to minus 13 degrees Celsius. In summer, the temperatures sometimes exceed 30 degrees Celsius, but the nights along the Vis are always cool due to the river. Spring and autumn are mostly mild.

History and local economy

Agriculture plays an important role economically, with sheep and goat breeding traditionally occurring above all. The rearing of cattle has been added as a new development. The great importance of sheep breeding can also be found in the municipal coat of arms, in which three scissors indicate the process of obtaining wool. Another trace of this branch of industry are the Lavognes , which are pond-like drinking troughs for animals and once also for people.

The place Madières was historically an important transition over the Vis, as which it was already in Roman times along the Roman road from Le Vigan to Lodève . In the 7th century the outer border of the Frankish Empire was there for a time . The oldest mention of Madières comes from the 9th century, when at least two water mills existed on the river bank. Due to the strategic importance of the river valley, in the further course of the Middle Ages a small fortress was built on the slopes above; this was destroyed in 1217. The side of Madières, which today belongs to Saint-Maurice-Navacelles, was also fortified. In the 14th century, unlike before, the part of the village that today belongs to Rogues was provided with a castle on the slopes above, but the village itself was not fortified. In the Cevennes War that was waged against the Protestants in the region from 1702 to 1705 , the Madières bridge was an important point of entry for the Catholic royal troops into the conflict areas. An important building of the place is the still existing castle above the houses, there is also a hydroelectric power station that was built at the beginning of the 20th century.

Population development

year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2007	2013
Residents	146	101	126	124	133	128	106	101

In 1793 there were 625 residents in the community, but seven years later, according to official statistics, there were only 416 people. After major fluctuations in the first half of the 19th century, the population began to decline in the second half, causing the number of residents to drop to 343 by 1901. From then until the 1940s, this downward trend intensified considerably and came to an end for the time being in 1968 with only 101 residents. Since then, the number of residents has remained at this level with certain fluctuations.

The negative development in the number of residents must be seen against the background that a considerable number of local people have a second home for the summer months and that tourists also populate the community during this time. The district of Madières, which partly belongs to the neighboring municipality of Saint-Maurice-Navacelles, recorded a population decline from around 400 to only around 30 permanent residents from 1914 to the early 21st century, but the number can increase to 200 in the summer months.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mairie de Rogues , annuaire-mairie.fr
2. ↑ ^{a b} La commune de Rogues Madières ( Memento of March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), cc-paysviganais.fr, French
3. ↑ Spéléologie , st-guilhem-le-desert.com
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Le Village de Madières , madieres.com
5. ↑ Rogues - Notice Communale , cassini.ehess.fr