Bretenoux

Commune in Occitania, France

Location of Bretenoux

(2020–2026) Pierre Moles^[1]Area

5.69 km² (2.20 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

1,389 • Density240/km² (630/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code

46038 /46130

Elevation129–245 m (423–804 ft)
(avg. 136 m or 446 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Bretenoux (French pronunciation: [bʁətnu]; Occitan: Bertenor) is a commune in the Lot department in southwestern France. The old town, a bastide, is laid out on a grid and has houses dating from the 13th to the 16th century.

Location

Bretenoux is located north of the River Lot, near the border with the Corrèze department, in the Dordogne Valley, and Bretenoux is attached to the town of Biars-sur-Cère. It is watered by the rivers Cère and Le Mamoul. The D940 and D803 national roads run through it.

Toponymy

The name Bretenoux derives from Brittanorum villa, which means "the domain, the property, of the Breton villa" and may reflect the settlement in the area in the 5th and 6th centuries of Romano-British people fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasion of England.^[3]

History

The settlement is first mentioned in the monastery of Beaulieu's cartulary in 866, as Villa Bretenoro.^[4]

Guérin, lord of Castelnau de Bretenoux, founded the bastide in 1277 as a counterpoint to the royal bastide of Puybrun, originally under the name Villafranca d'Orilenda (or Orlanda, Orlinda).^[5] He granted the town fishing rights, access to the river islands, and two markets a year on condition a wall was constructed around the town with moats and four gates.^[4]

Demographics

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	1,071	—
1975	1,115	+0.58%
1982	1,213	+1.21%
1990	1,211	−0.02%
1999	1,231	+0.18%
2009	1,342	+0.87%
2014	1,395	+0.78%
2020	1,370	−0.30%
Source: INSEE^[6]

Local culture and heritage

Bretenoux has retained parts of its ramparts and its checker-board grid plan, public squares, and covered arcades. The town hall and the gendarmerie are both turreted houses.^[4]^[7]^: 307

Notable buildings

Church of St Catherine, built outside the walls in the 17th century, externally remodelled in 1763^[4]
Place des Consuls, surrounded by arcades and half-timbered houses.
House of Pierre Loti
House of the Consuls, now housing the town hall

Notable people

Pierre François de Saint-Priest [fr] (1801 – 1851), politician, born in Bretenoux
Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805 – 1881), revolutionary, arrested on March 17, 1871 in Bretenoux
Adolphe de Lescure [fr] (1833 – 1892), historian and writer, born in Bretenoux
Pierre Loti (1850 – 1923), writer, spent part of his childhood at Bretenoux and wrote about his time there^[4]
Eugène Sol [fr] (1877 – 1953), historian, died at Bretenoux
David Moncoutié (born 1975), professional cyclist, lived in Bretenoux

International relations

Bretenoux is twinned with Glastonbury, United Kingdom.^[8]

References

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
^ Bazalgues, Gaston (2002). À la découverte des noms de lieux du Quercy. Toponymie lotoise (in French). Gourdon: Éditions de la Bouriane et du Quercy. p. 127. ISBN 2-910540-16-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Chantraine, Colette (1996). The Lot. Éditions du Laquet. p. 25. ISBN 978-2-910333-01-0.
^ Crochet, Bernard (2012). Les plus belles bastides du Sud-Ouest (in French). Rennes: Éditions Ouest-France. p. 78. ISBN 978-2-7373-5222-5.
^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE (in French)
^ The Green Guide: Dordogne Berry Limousin. Michelin Travel. 2002. ISBN 2060008719.
^ "British towns twinned with French towns [via WaybackMachine.com]". Archant Community Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.