Saint-Angeau

Saint- Angeau is a commune with 738 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011 ) in the department of Charente in the Poitou -Charentes.

Location

Saint- Angeau located about 90 meters above sea level. inst on a side route of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela ( Via Turonensis ) about 28 km ( driving distance ) north-east of Angoulême or about 16 kilometers northwest of La Rochefoucauld. The nearby towns of Sainte -Colombe ( 3.5 km south-east ) and Agris ( 10.5 km to the south) are also worth seeing.

Demographics

In the first census in France in 1793, the city had 613 inhabitants; then the population temporarily increased to over 800. Around the year 1900 there were about 750 inhabitants.

Economy

Saint- Angeau lives mainly from agriculture, and viticulture. Since the 1970s, the rental of apartments ( gîtes ) has been added as an important source of income of the village.

History

About the history of Saint- Angeau There is little information. As the Romanesque church proves the place was permanently settled since the Middle Ages.

Attractions

• The single-nave Romanesque parish church of Saint -Michel is dedicated to the Archangel Michael. The church originates from the 12th century; The western facade was redesigned in the 16th century. Apse and outer walls of the nave are built of roughly hewn stone material; a regular wall bond was therefore not possible anywhere. Only the cornerstones and the buttresses and soffits are trimmed significantly more accurate. The two-storey central tower has a square cross section and shows a beautiful basement of double arcades with pillars set - even in the corners; the upper floor, however, is made ​​much easier and has only four small openings. There is a strange and senseless basically console frieze between the two tower rooms. The roof of the apse is covered with stone shingles ( roofing stones ); the remaining roof areas have tile. Nave and apse are retracted barrel vaulted and are separated by a large choir arch. The church was incorporated in the year 1948 in the list of Monuments historiques.