Bessac

Bessac is a West commune with 118 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Charente in the Poitou -Charentes.

Location

Bessac is located about 36 km ( driving distance ) south-west of Angoulême in the cultural landscape of the Angoumois at a height of about 90 meters above sea level. d M. Arce The river flows through the territory of the municipality.

Demographics

In the first half of the 19th century, the church had always around 500 inhabitants; due to the phylloxera crisis in the wine and the mechanization of agriculture, the population then dropped continuously to the current lows.

Economy

The residents of the community lived for centuries of agriculture; the bottoms of the community belong to the Fins Bois Cognac of the vineyard, but the paragraphs in expensive wine fires in recent decades tended to shrink, so that the wine industry today plays no significant role. The tourism in the form of apartment rentals wearing since the 1960s to the revenue of the congregation.

History

The presence of a Romanesque church suggests the existence of a village in medieval times.

Attractions

• The largely unadorned Romanesque parish church ( Église Saint -Jean -Baptiste ) is a construction of 12-13. Century. The buttresses at the corners of the west facade are provided in the upper part with small weir bays ( bretèches ). The masonry of the non-reinforced by buttresses outside walls could not bear the vault and so the nave of the church nave is spanned up to the present day by an open roof.
• On a hill about two kilometers north-eastern (45 ° 26 ' 18 "N, 0 ° 0 ' 48" O45.4383333333330.013333333333333 ) one in 1791 up from broken stones and located to the 20th century in use windmill stands on a circular plan, their wings, however, have suffered in the storms of the last few decades. The building is recognized as a monument historique since 2002. From another windmill in the immediate vicinity is also the only built of rubble stone stump receive.