Bastide de Lévignac-de-Guyenne

Lévignac-de-Guyenne

On the plateau which overlooks the Dropt to the south, along the old road from Marmande to Sainte-Foy, Lévignac-de-Guyenne is a late English bastide. The name, a Gallo-Roman formation in -acum, is attested as early as 1284, but it was on 30 March 1305 that Edward I decided upon an enquiry with a view to creating a bastide there in paréage with local lords. Settlement was organised along parallel streets surrounded by gardens, and the ditches, bridges and gates of the enclosure have left their names to the chemin de ronde, the rue des Douves and the rue du Pont. A market hall of the 18th century sits in the middle of the central square, half-timbered houses and arrow slits recall the fortified town, while the church of Notre-Dame, rebuilt in the 19th century in the former space of the gardens, raises its neo-Gothic spire apart from it. Lévignac-de-Seyches took the name of Lévignac-de-Guyenne in 1929.

Getting there : Free access to the village and to the chemin de ronde. No tourist office or market documented in the texts.

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

Ambient sound