Garat (Charente)

Garat is a municipality with 1904 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the Charente region of France in the Poitou -Charentes.

Location

The municipality is located in Garat an altitude of about 105 meters above sea level. inst nearly seven miles ( driving distance ) south-east of Angoulême in the ancient cultural landscape of the Angoumois. The two river Échelle and Anguienne cross or limit parts of the municipality.

Demographics

In the first half of the 19th century, the community had mostly 800-950 inhabitants; due to the phylloxera crisis in the wine and the mechanization of agriculture, the population then dropped continuously from the lows of the 1920s to the 1960s. Being close to Angoulême and in the countryside significantly lower real estate prices in recent decades, again a significant increase in population numbers recorded.

Economy

The residents of the community lived for centuries on the principles of self-sufficiency from agriculture; only the city of Angoulême came into question as a marketplace. From the 18th to the 20th century there were two mills in the town. The soils of the community still belong to the Bons Bois of the vineyard Cognac, but the paragraphs in expensive brandies and even with wine in recent decades tended to shrink, so that the wine is no longer important.

History

Until the French Revolution, there was in the area of ​​today's community of two parishes - Garat and Ladoux (also called Sainte Catherine ). The hamlet Ladoux but was destroyed in the time of the Wars of Religion ( 1562-1598 ).

Attractions

• The elongated Romanesque parish church ( Église Saint- Pierre -aux -Liens ) dates from the late 12th century. The outer walls of the apse and the nave are completely unadorned and divided only by buttresses. The framed by buttresses west facade shows a slightly sharpened, but unprofiliertes Archivolts portal with brick columns, which are reflected as well in the overlying window. The sound holes of the small - in the 19th century to a bell tower, redesigned by a bell gable - construction are completely unadorned. As the half-columns of the nave wall templates show, the entire building was originally vaulted, but during the Easter fair of the year in 1629 plunged the vault and probably also damaged large parts of the masonry; the hemispherical curvature of the Apsiskalotte has been renewed later. As a result, the walls were rebuilt and collected a flatter brick vault, but 1991 showed cracks and was demolished; then the nave was given a modern open roof. The inner jambs of the windows are all chamfered; two cornices span the entire wall of the church, including the apse. The facade of the church has already been recognized in 1926 as a monument historique.
• The privately owned Château de la Tranchade (45 ° 37 '8 " N, 0 ° 14' 26" O45.6188888888890.24055555555556 ) originates from the 14th century - from this period, however, is only the built on a square plan Donjon obtained; after the building was modernized repeatedly - most recently in the 20th century. The palace is recognized as a monument historique since 1970.
• The Logis de l' Ermitage in the hamlet Bragette comes in substantial parts of the 18th century, but was modernized in the 19th century in neo-Gothic style.

Personalities

• Jean -Baptiste Bouillaud (1796-1881), physician and brain researcher, was born at the Logis de l' Ermitage.