Torsac

Torsac is a municipality with 775 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the Charente region of France in the Poitou -Charentes.

Location

The community Torsac lies on the south bank of the river Charrau at an altitude of about 110 meters above sea level. inst and about 13 km ( driving distance ) south-east of Angoulême in the ancient cultural landscape of the Angoumois in the south of Charente.

Demographics

In the first half of the 19th century, the community had mostly between 800 and 900 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 1970s. 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. 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 industry today is no longer important.

History

Findings demonstrate the presence of people in the age of the Mousterian. In 1542, handed to the Duke of Orléans, Charles de Valois - Angoulême, the youngest son of Francis I, the basic rule ( seigniory ) about Torsac to his faithful Pierre de la Place.

Attractions

• The Romanesque parish church ( Église Saint- Aignan ) has a transept with three apses, which is more like a higher-ranking church suggesting (possibly a priory ); it dates from the late 12th century, but was already in the 13th century, partly Gothicised (portal ) and reinforced by buttresses. Noteworthy is the octagonal and almost two-shell bell storey of Vierungsturmes with its concealed from the center pillar sound holes. The west facade shows a profiled, but not anthropomorphic ogival portal; above which is a round-arched windows with strongly slanted soffits. The zone includes a figurative frieze designed console, which is surmounted by a plain pediment with a central window. The domed by a conical buoy nave is subjected by transverse arches; the crossing is vaulted with a dome on squinches; the vegetable capitals in this area are of exceptional quality - only one shows a harp -playing musicians. The Apsiskalotte is painted with frescoes of the 15th century ( Pantokrator and Evangelist symbols ). The church was recognized in 1973 as a monument historique. Some items of equipment of the 17th and 18th centuries are also a listed monument.
• The privately owned Château de Torsac dates from the 13th century; however, it was later modified repeatedly. The medieval-style round towers with their machicoulis spring from the imagination of the 19th century.
• The stone tables of a covered but open-sided wash area ( lavoir ) facilitated the washerwomen the laborious stooping work.