Bretenoux

Bretenoux
Commune
Location of Bretenoux
Bretenoux is located in France
Bretenoux
Bretenoux
Location within France
Bretenoux is located in Occitanie
Bretenoux
Bretenoux
Location within Occitanie
Coordinates: 44°54′54″N 1°50′21″E / 44.915°N 1.8392°E / 44.915; 1.8392
CountryFrance
RegionOccitania
DepartmentLot
ArrondissementFigeac
CantonCère et Ségala
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Pierre Moles
Area
1
5.69 km2 (2.20 sq mi)
Elevation
136 m (446 ft)
Highest elevation
245 m (804 ft)
Lowest elevation
129 m (423 ft)
Population
 (2023)
1,468
 • Density258/km2 (668/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
46038 /46130
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Town hall

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.

History

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

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). 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.

On 9 June 1944, a group of twenty-seven French Resistance members led by Fritz Holtzmann from the Corrèze Armée secrète attempted to stop a column of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich advancing via Tulle towards Limoges to re-enforce the German army attempting to stop the Allies on the D-day beaches. The Resistance had barricaded the bridge with tree stumps and manned the bridge, riverbank, and surrounding roof tops. Around 06:30am the SS column had advanced from their lager at Saint-Céré, and the battle for the bridge lasted before SS units crossed river and flanked the resistance. With the bridge siege lifted, nineteen members of the Resistance had died and thirteen civilians murdered after they had failed to flee the town. The SS column then continued their advance to Tulle via Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne and La Grafouillère.

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±% 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%
2007 1,322+0.90%
2012 1,352+0.45%
2017 1,356+0.06%
2023 1,468+1.33%
Source: INSEE

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.: 307 

Notable buildings

  • Church of St Catherine, built outside the walls in the 17th century, externally remodelled in 1763
  • 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

International relations

Bretenoux is twinned with Glastonbury, United Kingdom.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Populations de référence 2023" (in French). National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 18 December 2025.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Chantraine, Colette (1996). The Lot. Éditions du Laquet. p. 25. ISBN 978-2-910333-01-0.
  5. ↑ Crochet, Bernard (2012). Les plus belles bastides du Sud-Ouest (in French). Rennes: Éditions Ouest-France. p. 78. ISBN 978-2-7373-5222-5.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Max Hastings (1983). Das Reich: The March of the 2nd SS Panzer Division through France. Internet Archive. Berkley Pub. Group. pp. 88–90.
  7. ↑ Population municipale entre 1968 et 2023, INSEE (in French)
  8. ↑ The Green Guide: Dordogne Berry Limousin. Michelin Travel. 2002. ISBN 2060008719.
  9. ↑ "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.