Barret (Charente)

Barret is a municipality with 920 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the Charente region of France in the Poitou -Charentes.

Location

The community Barret is in a height of about 80 meters above sea level. inst about 28 km ( driving distance ) southeast of Cognac and about 40 kilometers south-west of Angoulême in the ancient cultural landscape of the Angoumois in the south of Charente.

Demographics

In the 19th century, the community had mostly well over 1,000 inhabitants; due to the phylloxera crisis in the wine and the mechanization of agriculture, the population then dropped continuously from the lows of the 1940s to the 1970s. Being close to Angoulême and in the countryside significantly lower real estate prices in recent decades re a significant increase in population numbers recorded.

Economy

The residents of the community lived for centuries on the principles of self-sufficiency from agriculture; the towns of Cognac and Angoulême were hardly questioned as market places for their removal. The soils of the community belong nowadays to the Grande Champagne in the wine region of Cognac.

History

The existence of a Romanesque priory church testifies to the reaching back at least to the Middle Ages history of the place.

Attractions

• The present parish church ( Église Saint- Pardoux ) comes from - apart from a chapel cultivation of the 14th century - the second half of the 12th century and was formerly a priory of the abbey of Baignes. The polygonal apse broken is broken down in the exterior by half-columns templates are embedded in the five blind arches with slender windows, which in turn are accompanied by small columns and set flashed by different ornamented arches. The top section is a peripheral blocks frieze with an underlying console Fries, whose interstices ( Metop fields) are ornamentally decorated. The framed by buttresses portal zone of the church shows the frequently encountered in the Charente triumphal arch scheme with perfectly crafted elaborate and very well-preserved decoration to capitals and Archivolts; in the zone above which is a row of arcades with six blind arches and a slightly higher average window arcade; also runs a console frieze; the tympanum is without decor. The nave is covered by a pasted in the 19th century brick vaults; acting penetrated below the crossing tower is a dome. The church was recognized in 1954 as a monument historique.
• In the old cemetery of the town is a perforated disc Cross or Celtic cross, which is considered by some researchers still assigned to the 11th century; later datings, however, also been postulated. It is also recognized as a monument historique since 1990.