Alloue
Alloue is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France.
Alloue was part of the province of Limousin, and they spoke the Occitan form of Limousin.
Population
According to an old text of 1547, the Priory of Alloue had twenty houses in the village and around 125 tenants in the parish and neighbouring parishes. With 1,720 inhabitants it has been the victim of a slow erosion that has accelerated during the twentieth century and has lost 70% of its population in two centuries.
Historical population of Alloue
| Year |
1793 |
1800 |
1806 |
1821 |
1831 |
1841 |
1846 |
1851 |
1856 |
1861 |
| Population |
1720 |
1560 |
1347 |
1616 |
1659 |
1647 |
1715 |
1688 |
1601 |
1587 |
| Year |
1866 |
1872 |
1876 |
1881 |
1886 |
1891 |
1896 |
1901 |
1906 |
1911 |
| Population |
1609 |
1512 |
1586 |
1547 |
1612 |
1458 |
1410 |
1411 |
1399 |
1332 |
| Year |
1921 |
1926 |
1931 |
1936 |
1946 |
1954 |
1962 |
1968 |
1975 |
1982 |
| Population |
1196 |
1233 |
1133 |
1093 |
1054 |
1003 |
923 |
818 |
758 |
649 |
| Year |
1990 |
1999 |
2008 |
| Population |
599 |
528 |
520 |
Its inhabitants are called "Allouesiens" and "Allouesiennes".
Heritage
Alloue, like many French villages, has a few historical and interesting buildings including:
- The Priory
- Dating back from the 15th/16th century. It is adjacent to the church of the village.[1]
- The church of the village
- “Notre Dame”: The building date of the end of the twelfth century and early thirteenth century. It has been listed as a historical monument.[2]
- The main bridge
- or "Pont Neuf" of Alloue to the west entrance date of 1741.[3]
- Few Chateaux
- Most of them date back from the 16th and 17th centuries with some modifications done in the mid 19th century:
-
- The Chateau de Massignac.
- The Chateau Gueuche.
- The Chateau de l’Âge.
- The manoir de Beau-Chêne.
- The Chateau de La Vergne:
- The first lords of the manor known are the GUYOT. Marc Guyot du Repaire inherited the lordship of the Chateau de La Vergne in 1679. The Guyot du Repaire family owned the lordship and the estates and land of La Vergne till the mid 19th century. The castle was bought by the famous actress Maria Casares in the 1960’s. At her death in 1996, the estate was bequeathed to the local municipality. Since then the castle host now a cultural project and is a residence and place of exchange, training for writers, actors and theater directors. The library and the whole house were Registered monument on 12 December 2002.
- The house opposite the church
- Dating back from the sixteenth century, this large residence with an austere facade has a unique interior decorated by French wallpaper executed between 1834 and 1836 in the manufacture of Jean Zuber. These wallpapers present series like "North America" or "Helvétie".
Personalities
- The Guyot du Repaire family or Guiot du Repaire with coat of arms of "three gold green parrots, beaked, and hung collared gules. A very old and noble family with first traces in 1249 with " Huon Guyot or ** Huon Guiot. He is the first to be named in Alloue than followed different branches: His descendants are the Asnieres, the La Motte Villognon de Fanet, de Lespars, de Montorcy and du Repaire. The latter family being the main lords of the land of Alloue and of the Castle of "La Vergne".
- Marc Guyot du Repaire: General of the armies of the Republic under the Revolution, was born in Alloue in 1755 († Holy 1818).
- Louis Guyot or Guiot de Molans (1751 Alloue - 1793), condemned by the Revolutionary Tribunal on 7 April 1793 for having emigrated in March 1792. He is the first victim of the infamous Revolutionary Tribunal.
- Adrien Paul Mairat, journalist, general counsellor of Champagne-Mouton from 1894, then elected in 1906, he decided to build the train line of "Confolens-Angoulême".
- María Casares (A Coruña, 21 November 1922 - Alloue, 22 November 1996) famous actress of Spanish origin. To thank France for being a haven during the Spanish Civil War, she gave her estate of La Vergne (bought June 10, 1961) to the municipality.[4]
See also
References