Treignac

Sister cities

• Neuendettelsau

History

Founded around 800 AD, its first Chateau or Castle was built around the year 1000 on an inaccessible rock outcrop on a loop of the Vezere and at the same time the city walls were commenced of which the Chabirande gate of the 13th century still survives although the ramparts were destroyed at the start of the 19th century. The Chateau was the stronghold of the lands of the Medieval dynasty the Vicomte de Comborn, who had as its first head the man known as Archambaud the butcher, as result of his cruel rule. At Treignac, on the high point now called Les églises, not far from the fountain of Saint Méen, was the starting point of this settlement, the first houses were built around the churches of Saint-Martin, Saint-Léobon and Saint-Jean, now disappeared. The Church of Saint Martin was attached to the monastery at Uzerche. During the High Middle Ages, there were two main places in the current territory of the commune of Treignac: Manzannes and Treignac. In Manzannes, a priory was established, dedicated to the Notre Dame, attached to the monastery of Ventadour (Order of Cluny). The current parish church is the Church of Our Lady built originally in the 13C in Romanesque style and formerly part of the Chateau it was originally known as Notre-Dame-de-la-Basse-Cour and later Notre-Dame-des-Bans, when rebuilt in 1471. The bell tower was built in 1602 and one door in the style of Louis XIII (1610-1643) remains. Treignac was a free city following three charters: 1205, 1284 and 1438. The city was governed by four consuls. The Fleyssac house was built in the 15th century against the ramparts and buttresses of the gate of Pradelle, it was sold to the Protestants in 1638, where they celebrated their worship for the following 50 years. The town has been sacked by armies…

Geography

Treignac is a commune located in the Massif Central on the Plateau de Millevaches. The village is built between 400 and 500 metres above sea level, at the foot of the Massif des Monédières, in the gorges of the Vézère river, at the gates of the Parc naturel régional de Millevaches en Limousin (Regional Natural Park of Millevaches in Limousin). The site is limited to the west by the Rocher des Folles and to the east by the Saut de la Virolle. The waters of the Vézère are retained upstream of the village by the Barrage de Treignac (dam), forming the lac des Bariousses (lake). The commune is also watered by a tributary of the Vézère, the Alambre, and the stream called Ruisseau de la Cassière, a tributary of the Soudaine, itself a tributary of the Vézère. Influenced by an Atlantic oceanic climate, it gives rise to a very green natural vegetation.