Libourne
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Libourne (; oc, label= Gascon, Liborna ) is a
commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
in the Gironde department in
Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...
in southwestern
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the
wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émilion and
Pomerol Pomerol (; oc, Pomairòus) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine near Bordeaux in southwestern France. Wine With only . Pomerol is the smallest wine producing area in the Bordeaux region. It is more a community where t ...
.


Geography

Libourne is located at the confluence of the Isle and
Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is name ...
rivers. Libourne station has rail connections to Bordeaux, Bergerac, Angoulême, Périgueux, Limoges, Brive-la-Gaillarde and Sarlat-la-Canéda.


History

In 1270, ''Leybornia'' was founded as a bastide by Roger de Leybourne (of Leybourne,
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
), an English seneschal of Gascony, under the authority of King
Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...
. It suffered considerably in the struggles of the French and English for the possession of Gironde in the 14th century, and joined France in the 15th century. In December 1854 John Stuart Mill passed through Libourne, remarking "I stopped at Libourne as I intended & had a walk about it this morning quite the best thing there is the bridge of the Dordogne, the view from which is really fine".The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill Vol XIV, Page 251.


Population


Sights

The Gothic church, restored in the 19th century, has a stone
spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...
high. On the
quay A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths ( mooring locatio ...
there is a
machicolated A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at t ...
clock-tower which is a survival of the
defensive walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
of the 14th century. The town-house, containing a small museum and a library, is a quaint relic of the 16th century. It is located by the main square, the Place Abel Surchamp, which hosts every weekend one of the largest fresh food market in the region. There is a statue of
Élie, duc Decazes Élie, 1st Duke of Decazes and Glücksbierg (born Élie Louis Decazes; 28 September 178024 October 1860) was a French statesman, leader of the liberal ''Doctrinaires'' party during the Bourbon Restoration. Early life and family Élie Decazes ...
, who was born in the region.


Notable people

* Eugène Atget (1857–1927), French photographer, "Creator and Purveyor of a Collection of Photographic Views of Old France * Florian Latorre (born 1997), racing driver * Louis Le Provost de Launay (1850–1912), French deputy and senator * Jean-Marie Londeix (1932–), French saxophonist * Jean Marcadé (1920–2012), French Hellenist and historian * Jean-Marie Poumeyrol, (born 1946), artist


See also

*
Hull town walls Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...
, the town of Hull, also established under Edward I, is said to have been similar in design to the Bastides, in particular Libourne *
Communes of the Gironde department The following is a list of the 535 communes of the Gironde department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):Keynsham, twinned with Libourne


References


External links

*
Official website
(in French)
Unofficial website
(in French) {{Authority control Communes of Gironde Subprefectures in France Guyenne