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4 | living contents
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Practical Advice Your questions answered
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The Passage of Autumn Peace descends in the Hays household after the summer and rentrée
39
Puzzle Break Our unique crossword by Mike Morris
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Snippets Local news from around the region
16
La Vie en Rose Roger Moss visits the vibrant city of Toulouse, a symphony of pale pink brick
22
Eternal Flame Discover the story behind more mysterious ancient monuments found across the region
27
A Sense of Place Jean-Marie Cassagne reveals the meanings behind the names of our towns and villages
30
Phare de Cordouan Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site
32
Hubble Bubble As Halloween approaches, Jessica Knipe explores a darker side of local history
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40
Nikki Legon’s Cuisine Our favourite pies and pasties as the nights draw in
44
What’s on the Label Caro Feely explains the terms
46
22
Living Property Pages A profile of Le Dorat in Haute-Vienne
50
Shear Delight Hedging solutions for every gardening requirement
65
Oh, Josephine Josephine Baker’s extraordinary life
66
Pardon! Theatrical language with Emma-Jane Lee
Business Directory
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18 | living places to visit
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living places to visit | 17
Le Capitole (currently undergoing restoration works)
La Vie en Rose
photo left: © © Elsa Cyril Agence d’Attractivité de Toulouse Métropole
T
here’s something compelling about the historic brick-built towns of the sunny south. Perhaps it’s the awareness that they were constructed from the very soil on which they stand; ‘terre cuite’ says it all – but there’s more. Spend some time in Albi, Montauban or Toulouse and from dawn to dusk you’ll witness a gradual transformation, as pastel pinks turn to fiery reds and finally cool mauves, a hypnotic process which accompanies daily life here and which continues to captivate even long-term residents. Toulouse has long been the most important town in south west France, and can trace its origins back to
We visit the vibrant city of Toulouse, a symphony of pale pink brick in the Languedoc. WORDS: ROGER MOSS
Neolithic times, long before the Celtic settlement of Tolosa was established on the banks of the River Garonne during the 3rd century BC. A century later the Romans arrived and set about transforming the site into one of the most important and most prosperous cities in la Provincia Romana (occupied Gaul), with a population of around 15-20,000. The fall of the Empire in 476AD ended the Roman occupation, and the city then became the royal capital of the Visigoths, whose territories, granted by Roman Emperor Honorius, would eventually embrace south west France and most of Spain. Today the city’s origins are clearly evident in much of what we see in
and around Vieux Toulouse, not least the use of bricks as the preferred building material (see our factfile below). The results, as you’ll discover, can be spectacular, as is the case with two medieval towers which dominate the skyline. The oldest belongs to the UNESCO-listed Basilique Saint-Sernin, Europe’s largest Romanesque building. Consecrated in 1096, its vast interior was conceived to accommodate pilgrims heading to and from Santiago de Compostela, and its cruciform layout gives it more the feel of a cathedral than a basilica. Outside you can see how its construction began with stone detailing among the brickwork, but at some point that was
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18 | living places to visit
The 12th century Lanterne des Morts de Sarlat (right) in Dordogne
Eterna F ame We celebrate more mysterious ancient monuments found in our towns and villages
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living living places places to to visit visit || 23 21
P
erhaps not surprisingly, the more we discover about the world around us the more we seem drawn to mysteries from the past. In a previous issue of LIVING we looked at the strange medieval crosses often found in rural churchyards, and known to historians as ‘croixhosannières’. As we discovered, they’re largely confined to the west of our region, as are examples of a similar architectural feature with which they’re often confused. While the slightly sinister-sounding ’lanternes des morts’
can be found all over France, by far the highest concentration is right here in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, among the ancient territories of Limousin, Poitou and Saintonge. Like the ‘croix-hosannières’, most take the form of tall stone columns, but look more closely at what they support and you’ll see that instead of a symbolic cross they’re surmounted by a chamber with openings on all sides. However, their purpose was not, as you might expect, to permit daylight to illuminate the interior but to allow light to shine from within – a now-forgotten
practice with some ghostly overtones. Today a few lanternes des morts stand in or near the heart of villages, but many were dismantled then reassembled on the outskirts of communities during the 18th and 19th centuries, when public health concerns prompted numerous cemeteries to be relocated. Wherever we encounter them, the lanternes’ presence evokes a period when graveyards were widely believed to be fraught with danger during hours of darkness, not least from restless spirits lingering among the graves. Since few people would
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Villaines-les-
26 | living places to visit Rochers (37)
Where to find them...
The 12th century granite lanterne at Rancon (87).
Charente (16): Angoulême (Saint-André) 16000 Brigueuil 16420 Cellefrouin 16260 Pranzac 16110
Charente-Maritime (17): Aulnay-de-Saintonge 17470 Fenioux 17350 Lozay 17330 Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron 17310
Creuse (23):
whose decorative bands give it the appearance of having a further four stages. At ground level you can enter a round funerary chapel whose elegant stone rib vaults are supported by six Gothic arches, above which is a second chamber and an age-old puzzle: its window openings are so slender that it’s inaccessible, calling into question its intended purpose. It’s conceivable that the Lanterne des Morts de Sarlat was constructed to commemorate the Saint-Pierre d’Oléron’s lanterne is the tallest in France
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visit of Saint Bernard in 1147, since the structure has also been referred to as the Tour Saint-Bernard. Like the suggestion that there’s an ossuary chamber below the chapel, we might never know, but in 1861 the tower received Monument Historique listing and remains one of the town’s most celebrated historic sites. Given the enduring power of their symbolism (and the age-old practice of lighting candles in memory of departed loved ones) it seems fitting that more modern lanternes des morts should sometimes be found in military cemeteries. The ultimate expression of this desire is unquestionably the stone tower which lies at the heart of the vast Ossuaire de Douaumont (Meuse), created to commemorate those who fell during the Battle of Verdun in December 1916. Over a century later, the lantern at its 46 metre summit continues to shine each night over the sea of war graves and the adjacent former battlefield. Much closer to home you’ll find a more modest lanterne des morts at Le Dorat (87), also in the form of a war memorial. Erected beside the Collégiale Saint-Pierre in 1929, its crisp, elegant lines reflect the Art Déco period of its conception, its sombre mood a result of having been sculpted in cool grey kersantite – a tough and enduring Breton granite which makes an interesting comparison with the local variety used in the collegiate church. The location is just 20km or so NW of Rancon, so you could easily
Crocq 23260 Croze 23500 (Parc du Château de Maslaurent) Felletin 23500 Saint-Agnant-de-Versillat 23300 Saint-Goussaud 23430 La Souterraine 23300
Dordogne (24): Atur 24000 Bourdeilles 24310 Brantôme 24310 Carlux 24310 Cherveix-Cubus 24390 Sarlat-la-Canéda 24200
Gironde (33): Arcachon 33120 Liborne 33500
Deux-Sèvres (79): Pers 79190 St-Maixent-l’Ecole 79400 Saint-Varent 79330 Verruyres 79310
Vienne (86): Antigny 86310 Château-Larcher 86065 Journet 86290 Montmorillon 86500 Moussac 86150 Poitiers (Cimitière de la Pierre Levée)
Haute-Vienne (87): Cognac-la-Forêt 87310 Coussac-Bonneval 87500 Le Dorat (2) 87210 Les Cars 87230 Oradour-Saint-Genest 87210
combine the two visits. That said, all our lanternes des morts are worth getting to know, and the very fact that many of the beliefs and events which prompted their widespread creation remain uncertain only adds to their fascination.
living place names | 29 27
A Sense of Place When passing through our towns and villages, have you ever wondered about their names? As Jean-Marie Cassagne reveals, each one has its own meaning...
T
oponymy is a fascinating subject, which essentially focuses on the evolution of place names, and what originally inspired them. Sometimes the origins are obvious. Lille, for example, was once l’île (the island), for the city was founded on an island surrounded by the river Deûle. Closer to home, it’s no surprise that La Rochelle was born on a small rocky site, although guessing the origins of names like Bergerac, Royan or Angoulême might be more challenging. The toponymy of our region is fascinating, so we’ll embark on a trip through history. Many places already had their names before the Gauls arrived. We might not know what languages the pre-Gaulish people spoke but occasional traces can be found in toponymy. For instance, early tribes used a word which sounded like born and meant “spring”, and which survives in village names like Born (24), Bourneau (85) or Bournizeau (79). Another pre-Celtic root common in the region is gar- / kar- (stone or rock), which gave us place names such as Les Caires (87), Les Groies (17), La Galibe (24), or La Grève (86). In hilly areas we find another pre-Gaulish root: kukk (a summit, round topped mound), which reveals the origin of Cuq (79), Cogulot (24), Cugand (85) or Juillac-le-Coq (16). What’s truly remarkable is that all these roots have survived for over twenty centuries. Not surprisingly, the Gauls also left us lots of place names. The city
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28 | living witches
hubBle, Bubble... t
he roaring success of the Harry Potter franchise, cosmetics and potions like Garancia’s ‘Huile Ensorcelante’, the twitch of Samantha’s nose in ‘Bewitched’... they all hide the much more sinister, mysterious side of sorcerers and witches and the cruel fate that was reserved for them. Take the witches’ broomstick, for example. Today children squeal with glee as they imagine it flying through the air, but it was actually born not only from the distortion of a symbol of domestication by women who didn’t ‘fit the mould’ – spinsters, widows, divorcees, etc. – it’s also a phallic reference to what witches were widely believed to steal and then hide in birds’ nests scattered around their homes... Happily, fear of witches who lived alone surrounded only by toads and cats, is slowly being replaced with admiration for their defiance of subservience. But before feminists began writing in the French magazine ‘Sorcières’ (or demonstrating in 2017 in Paris and Toulouse with pointy hats and ‘Macron au Chaudron’ banners) simply being called a witch was an accusation which for many women – and men, too – warranted torture and death by burning. Throughout the ages a climate of fear of unexplained events
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living witches | 33
Carrelets near Fort Lupin (right)
produced witch-hunts in which crazed fanaticism instilled a need to point fingers and designate scapegoats for gruesome collective punishment: a bad hailstorm destroyed the crops? Easy – just burn the witches. Most of the time those who were shunned for their anti-social, antiChristian behaviour were women. In 1028 Guillaume de Taillefer died in Angoulême from poisoning after drinking a herbal concoction given to him by an old woman, so it was concluded that she was obviously a witch. The proof? She had a lot of magical statuettes at home. And in 1619, when the Las-Coudourleiras mill near Bordeaux mysteriously stopped working, there was only one explanation: local witch Jeanne ‘Gâche’ Noals must have cursed it (so off to the stake with her, too). Sorcery was frequently used as an excuse to condemn people who were
‘in the way’ in land disputes, which would then be resolved by proving that a neighbour was a witch (or that bad crops were due to evil women casting spells). Every catastrophe needed a scapegoat, so in 1453 even the plague was blamed on a group of women in Marmande (47), while in the 17th century Pierre de Lancre, one of the Aquitaine’s most celebrated experts in ‘demonology’, scanned the region to find witches and problematic citizens, encouraging people to inform on each other. Perhaps not purely coincidentally, he also happened to be a Parliamentary Advisor in Bordeaux. Political bias aside, though, fear of the power of witches was both real and deeply rooted. Under English rule in 1450 a witch in La Chalosse (40) called Domenge de Casalhot died before her sentence could be carried out, but the Lord who condemned her was so worried about her influence that he demanded
that her remains be burnt anyway. In his book ‘La Sorcellerie à Travers les Siècles’ Jacques Dubourg explains that in the Bordelais and Landes regions there was a particular category of witches called ‘les Hantaoumes’, who genuinely terrified local populations, especially children. They were said to be little monsters who managed to get into houses through keyholes, throwing themselves on those who slept and pushing down on their chest
Tales of witchcraft have been sending shivers down the spines of children for centuries, but behind our Halloween antics are stories which reveal a much darker part of our history … WORDS: JESSICA KNIPE
and stomach to prevent them from speaking or even breathing. Their victims would awaken exhausted, often on the floor. In Périgord witches took on the shapes of white, furry, deer-shaped animals called ‘Litres’, who would steal people away at every opportunity. The idea of witches controlling the weather was also powerful, and in 1818 the tribunal of Sarlat saw the trial of some inhabitants of Campagnac-lès-Quercy who had exhumed the body of a presumed witch because her presence in the local cemetery was causing hailstorms and destroying crops. In all up to 100,000 men and women have been sentenced to death around the world for being witches – something to think about when you choose your next Halloween costume. Laugh at the old hag if you like, but don’t ever forget that she might just have the power to climb through your keyhole at any time, perhaps to claim her next ‘broomstick’…P
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