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Bastide (planned town)Dordogne

Villefranche-de-Lonchat

Villefranche-de-Lonchat

Dimensions
The bastide, stretched along the top of the knoll, keeps its characteristic plan of straight streets crossing at right angles and its central square, where the chapel of Sainte-Anne of the 14th century stands, beside the town hall of the 19th century that houses the municipal museum. The panorama opens out from the site of the ramparts. To the west, in the cemetery, the church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption of the 12th and 14th centuries; in the village, a wash-house, a weighbridge, a wine press and a well.
Period
Church and priory from the 11th–12th century; English bastide founded in 1287, named Villefranche in 1301; chapel of the 14th century; town hall of the 19th century.
What stands there
The church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption has been inscribed as a monument historique since 1948, the town hall since 2002, and the chapel of Sainte-Anne is inscribed. A canton capital from 1790, the commune was called Villefranche-de-Longchapt until 1953. The lake of Gurson borders its territory to the south-east.

On the borders of the Gironde, on a knoll overlooking the pays de Gurson, Villefranche-de-Lonchat is an English bastide founded in 1287 by Edward I under the name of bastida de Lopiaci, after a Gallo-Roman villa belonging to one Lupius; in 1301 it received the name of Villefranche. On 14 August 1345 Edward III granted in perpetuity the lordship of Puynormand and the bastide to Bérard I de Vayres. Stretched along the top of its knoll, it has kept its plan of straight streets crossing at right angles, its central square where the chapel of Sainte-Anne of the 14th century stands, and the memory of its castle and its ramparts, from which the panorama opens out. Outside the walls, the church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption of the 12th and 14th centuries, in the middle of the cemetery, keeps the memory of the priory of La Sauve-Majeure established here from 1117.

Further reading

Getting there : Town freely accessible. Municipal museum in the town hall. Evening market on Friday evenings.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Villefranche-de-Lonchat
Pays du Grand Bergeracois · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).