Mouthiers-sur-Boëme

Mouthiers -sur- Boëme is a West commune with 2507 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Charente in the Poitou -Charentes.

Location

Mouthiers -sur- Boëme is approximately 13 kilometers ( route ) south of Angouleme in the border region to the Perigord, on a plateau above the river Boëme at an altitude of about 130 meters above sea level. inst.

Demographics

In the second half of the 19th century, the church had always 1150-1600 inhabitants; due to the phylloxera crisis in the wine and the mechanization of agriculture, the population decreased continuously thereafter to the lowest level of the year 1946, with some 1,100 inhabitants from. Its proximity to the city of Angoulême, significantly lower property prices, the population has more than doubled in the last decades.

Economy

The residents of the community lived for centuries of agriculture; but also the production of paper played since the end of the Middle Ages to the 19th century, a not unimportant role. The soils of the community belong to the Fins Bois Cognac of the vineyard, but the paragraphs in expensive wine fires in recent decades tended to shrink, so that the wine industry today plays no significant role. The small town has little industry; However, it is the artisan and mercantile center of several villages and hamlets in the area.

History

Under the rock shelter ( abri ) 18,000 -year-old Stone Age rock carvings have been discovered with traces of color that come from a frieze with multiple representations of horses. In the immediate vicinity also stone tools have been found. In the area of a prehistoric rampart remains have been found, which are attributed to the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.

The first church was built - a local legend - in the 6th century. The parish belonged since 1094 to the possession of the once important Benedictine Abbey of Saint -Martial in Limoges, which maintained a priory here. In the 11th century, but was also a castle (château ) on the Rock of Rochandry, which was in the Hundred Years' War ( 1337-1453 ) destroyed and then rebuilt in a different form.

Attractions

• The approximately one kilometer west of the village located overhang La Chaire à Calvin (45 ° 33 ' 19 " N, 0 ° 6' 57 " O45.5552777777780.11583333333333 ) with the rock reliefs of three horses - in addition to the reliefs from Roc de Sers - the only witness the presence of prehistoric man in the southern Charente and recognized as a monument historique since 1986.
• The Camp aux Anglais -called stone or Bronze Age rampart is hardly recognizable as such. Nevertheless, it is recognized as a monument historique since 1930.
• Built on the site of a medieval motte and a later destroyed castle Château de la Rochandry is a historicist building of the 19th century.
• The Romanesque parish church ( Église Saint- Hilaire ) is a building of the 12th century with a transept and three apses. However, the octagonal Gothic central tower was built in the 13th century; his once high towering helmet burned down after a lightning strike in 1735. The Archivolts of the portal in the western facade is richly decorated with flowers, foliage and a bar motif; also partially figurative designed capitals deserve attention. In the later added Eckstrebepfeiler two Romanesque lions reliefs are embedded. The upper part of the facade comes clearly from the epoch of the Gothic. The built of hewn limestone exactly nave shows large blind arches and half-columns templates is barrel vaulted. The central dome resting on pendentives has a central oculus; the lower part of the apse is framed by decorative hidden pre arcades, the average is slightly higher than the lateral. The church building has been classified as a monument historique since 1862.

Facade

Lion with tendrils

Archivolts Portal

• On the outskirts of the hamlet located two kilometers southwest Gersac (45 ° 32 ' 54 " N, 0 ° 6' 19" O45.5483333333330.10527777777778 ) is a medieval stone cross ( Croix de Gersac ), which by some as simple crossroads, but by others as Hosanna Cross is considered. It is recognized as a monument historique since 1926.
• The Logis de Forge (45 ° 33 '4 " N, 0 ° 7' 43 " O45.5511111111110.12861111111111 ) is already mentioned in documents in 1233. However, current and three-story framed by corner towers on square-plan building dates from the 15th/16th. Century. In the revolutionary period established in several annex buildings, a paper mill. The building has a beautiful garden and is recognized as a monument historique since 2005.
• The Logis de La Foy (45 ° 33 ' 54 " N, 0 ° 8' 12" O45.5650.13666666666667 ) was also built in the 15th century but largely reworked in the 18th century in the style of the time. The building is recognized as a monument historique since 1963.
• Logis du Mainadaud is situated outside the town fortified manor. His buildings include a late medieval tower defense bays ( bretèches ).
• On the banks of Boëme several wash houses ( lavoirs ) are from the 19th century.

Logis de la Forge

Logis de la Foy

Logis du Mainadaud

Partner community

• Petite- Roselle, Lorraine (since 1988)