Fontgombault

Fontgombault is a small western French village with 259 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Indre in the Centre region.

Location

Fontgombault is located about 94 meters above sea level. inst on the right, that is the north-eastern side of the river Creuse and about 58 km ( driving distance ) to the east of Poitiers in the wooded and hilly countryside of the Haut- Poitou. The main sites of Saint- Savin -sur -Gartempe and Chauvigny and the Touffou Castle are both just a few miles away.

Demographics

In the first census in France in 1793, the city had 495 inhabitants; in 1876 there were even 813 inhabitants.

Economy

The area around the village is dominated by agriculture and forestry for centuries. Because of the nearby abbey and the stunning surroundings since the 1970s, tourism in the form of cafes and restaurants and the rental of apartments ( gîtes ) plays a certain role in the economic life of the village.

History

Even in prehistoric times, the area was - at least temporarily - settled, because in the vicinity of the town a large number of stone tools were found. For a number of Gallo-Roman coins and other finds from the site of the later Abbey, which probably makes it that here formerly a manor house (villa rustica) has been derived. Since the Middle Ages, the history of the village is closely linked to the established in 1091 Benedictine Abbey, which always had need for workers ( laborers and artisans).

Attractions

Notre- Dame Abbey

Other

• The single-nave Romanesque village church of Saint -Jacques was probably also built by the same workers who were involved in the construction of the abbey church in the 12th, maybe in the early 13th century; the building benefits from a simple but extremely solid construction. The capital and decor loose west portal was - probably rebuilt in the 14th century in the Gothic style - along with the quatrefoil window above it; further evidence for a revision of the western part are added to stabilize eckständigen buttresses. The apse exterior is in a mixture of precisely hewn and largely unworked stones. The windows are cut into the wall and have no rahmendes decor (columns, decorative friezes, etc.). The ground floor of the tower forms a kind narthex. The nave is spanned by a Gothic ribbed vault; the apse still has its original Romanesque barrel vault.
• Near the abbey can be found in the limestone slopes near the river bank several rock overhangs ( abris ), which probably already prehistoric hunters and gatherers, and later also served as Christian hermits shelter. Still later, some of these ledges were expanded to cave dwellings ( maisons troglodytes).
• From a hiking trail on the south bank of the Creuse, irritating glances arising on an old water mill and the monastery building.