Saint-Estèphe (Dordogne)

Saint-Estèphe
region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Dordogne
Arrondissement	Nontron
Canton	Périgord Vert Nontronnais
Community association	Périgord Nontronnais
Coordinates	45 ° 36 ′ N , 0 ° 40 ′ E Coordinates: 45 ° 36 ′ N , 0 ° 40 ′ E
height	177-300 m
surface	21.37 km 2
Residents	613 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	29 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	24360
INSEE code	24398
	; Saint-Etienne church

Saint-Estèphe , Occitan Sent Estefe is a French municipality with 613 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Dordogne in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine (before 2016: Aquitaine ). It belongs to the Arrondissement of Nontron and the canton of Périgord Vert Nontronnais (until 2015: Nontron ). The responsible community association is the Communauté de communes du Périgord Nontronnais . The inhabitants are called Stéphanois or Stéphanoises .

etymology

The Occitan Sent Estefe denotes Saint Stephen and is usually rendered as Saint-Étienne in French . In the 13th century the place was still called Sanctus Stefanus deus Ledros and then on the Cassini map of the 18th century it was called Saint-Étienne le Droux .

geography

Saint-Estèphe belongs to the Périgord Vert and is around seven kilometers from Nontron in the south and around four kilometers from Piégut-Pluviers in the northeast .

Saint-Estèphe is surrounded by the following six municipalities:

Bussière-Badil	Busserolles	Piégut-Pluviers
Etouars		Piégut-Pluviers, Augignac
Le Bourdeix	Le Bourdeix	Augignac

The municipality of Saint-Estèphe includes the following hamlets, farms, mills, a castle and landmarks: Badeix, Barraud, Bois Charbonnières, Bridarias, Chevalarias, Étang de Saint-Estèphe, Fixard, Font Froide, Gondat, L'Étang Neuf, La Grange , La Haute Sudrie, La Ménardie, La Pouge, La Sudrie, Lacaujamet, Le Bois Périgord, Le Briodet, Le Grand Étang, Le Moulin de Lapeyre, Le Moulin de Ligneras, Le Moulin Fondu, Le Verger, Les Blancs, Les Bonneix, Les Forêts, Les Landes de Barraud, Les Malibas, Les Périgords, Les Petits Moulins, Les Rochers, Ligneras, Maisonneuve, Mérigaud, Peyrat, Puycharnaud, Roc Branlant, Seguinaud, Serve des Desmoiselles and Villepradeau .

Location map of Saint-Estèphe

The topographically lowest point of the municipality is at 177 meters above sea level on the Doue in the extreme southwest. The highest point at 300 meters above sea level is located a little east of Lacaujamet in the extreme northeast. The absolute height difference is 123 meters. A general collapse of the terrain to the southwest can be seen.

Transport links

The center of Saint-Estèphe is located on the north-south running D 88 from Busserolles to Nontron . An east-west running municipal road from Augignac to Le Bourdeix also crosses here . On the northern edge of the municipal area, the D 91 runs from Piégut-Pluviers to Montbron . In the middle of the municipality north of the town center cross the D 92 branching off from the D 91 to Javerlhac and the D 91 E3 from Piégut to Le Bourdeix in a northeast-southwest direction.

Long-distance hiking trail

The municipality of Saint-Estèphe is crossed or touched by the GR 4 long-distance hiking trail in the extreme northeast at Bridarias and Lacaujamet .

Hydrography

The sea of rocks Chapelet du Diable consists of coarse-grained granodiorite

The south-east of the municipality is traversed by the Doue and its small left branch. The Doue leaves the municipality at Le Moulin de Ligneras to the west. It is dammed a little east of the town center to the 30-hectare Étang de Saint-Estèphe (17 hectares of which are open to bathing), a well-known local recreation center with a campsite. The northwest is drained from the Ruisseau des Forges , a right branch of the Doue, in a southwestern direction.

geology

Saint-Estèphe lies completely on the Piégut-Pluviers-Granodiorite (mainly in its coarse-grained normal facies γ ^3M ). The granodiorite had penetrated into the metamorphic basement of the north-western Massif Central in the Upper Carboniferous - more precisely into the vault of the Saint-Mathieu-Dom . It is considered to be a later representative of the Guéret type granitoids .

At Les Blancs and Barraud , the fine-grained roof facies ( _f γ ^3M ) are exposed . North of Lacaujamet the normal facies and the fine-grained facies merge into the coarse-grained porphyry facies ( _p γ ^3M ). Two enclaves with fine-grained facies appear within the porphyry facies (near Maisonneuve ).

Two faults run through the granodiorite in a north-northeast direction (at Barraud and at Lacaujamet ).

In the now disused quarry of Lacaujamet , the granodiorite used to be mined, the cuboids were mainly processed into door and window lintels.

ecology

Still life with fern on granodiorite

Natural park

Saint-Estèphe has been an integral part of the Périgord-Limousin Regional Natural Park since 1998 .

Protected areas

The valleys of the Doue and one of its tributaries in the southeast of the municipality are under nature protection . These areas are designated as ZNIEFF (French zone naturelle d'intérêt écologique, faunistique et floristique ) of type 1 under the name Vallées du réseau hydrographique du Bandiat . Its flora consists of more than 100 plant species with large ormennig ( Agrimonia procera ) and Atlantic hare bells ( Hyacinthoides non-scripta ) as indicator plants.

Also under protection are the Étang de Saint-Estèphe with an area of 21 hectares, which is supervised by the Conseil général de la Dordogne, as well as on the Doue downstream the monolith of Roc Branlant , the rocky sea Chapelet du Diable , under which the Doue flows, and the subsequent pond Étang des Cygnes with a total of 21 hectares. These picturesque and legendary protected areas were extended to Les Petits Moulins in 2011 and now cover 38.5 hectares.

history

The oldest cultural testimony in the commune of Saint-Estèphe is a pair of menhirs near Fixard in the north ( megalithic culture ). The Romanesque church of Saint-Étienne in the town center dates from the 12th century. The remains of the former Grammontenser Priory in Badeix go back to the same period . In Briodet once a castle from the 13th-century.

Population development

Population development in Saint-Estèphe
year	Residents
1962	745
1968	643
1975	621
1982	612
1990	604
1999	619
2005	590
2007	599
2008	596
2010	590
2013	598
2015	612
2016	612
2017	613

Source: INSEE

The population of Saint-Estèphe has generally declined since the beginning of the 1960s, but has stabilized with slight fluctuations since 1975.

With an area of 21.37 square kilometers, the population density is currently 29 inhabitants / km².

mayor

From 1965 to 2001, mayor of Saint-Estèphe of the PCF belonging René Dutin , who also served between 1997 and 2002 as a deputy in the National Assembly and since 1979 the General Council was of the Dordogne. The socialist Marc Veyssière, a retired teacher, had been in office since April 2001 . He was replaced by Eric Forgeneuf in March 2014.

Attractions

The pair of menhirs from the megalithic period at Fixard . Unfortunately, one of the two menhirs fell over and broke.

The Romanesque church of Saint-Étienne of Saint-Estèphe from the 12th century, built in granodiorite. It was expanded in the 15th and again in the 17th century.

The remains of the Badeix Grammontenser Priory from the 12th century.

The dammed swimming lake Étang de Saint-Estèphe .

The Roc Branlant , located in the immediate vicinity of the swimming lake, on the Doue. This is a 3 × 3 × 3 meter block of granodiorite that can be tilted with some effort. Immediately downstream is a sea of rocks ( Chapelet du Diable ), which in places completely covers the Doue. The emergence of this natural phenomenon can be traced back to the outcome of the last Ice Age (increased erosion ).