Mainfonds

Main Fund is a West commune with 198 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Charente in the Poitou -Charentes.

Location

Mainfonds lies about 24 km ( driving distance ) south-west of Angoulême in the cultural landscape of the Angoumois at a height of about 90 meters above sea level. inst.

Demographics

Until the late 19th century the population of the community fluctuated between 300 and 400; due to the phylloxera crisis in the wine and the mechanization of agriculture, the population then dropped continuously from down to the lows of the past decades.

Economy

The residents of the community lived for centuries of agriculture; the bottoms of the community belong to the Fins Bois Cognac and the wine region so there are several vineyards in the area of the village. The tourism in the form of apartment rentals also contributes since the 1960s in the revenue of the municipality.

History

Miitelalterliche local names are Maingfunt ( 1143 ) and Magnofonte ( 1298 ); both terms mean as much as Great Source '.

Attractions

• The nave, but equipped with a transept Parish Church ( Église Saint- Médard ) is attributed to the 12th century; the side chapels of the transept arms were never completed or disappeared in the course of history. The central apse provided with three windows of different sizes is divided by pilasters; above that is a peripheral console frieze. The substructure of the square crossing tower is oddly round. The west façade is extremely plain; the two buttresses framed - added later - portal closes in a segmental arch. The short nave and the two transept arms are barrel vaulted; the crossing closes in a dome resting on pendentives with a central opening for the bell ropes. The church is recognized as a monument historique since 1926.
• The estate of Château des Barrières dates from the 17th century.