Beaufou () is a small
village in the
region of
Pays de la Loire
Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" ().
...
in western
France. It is designated municipally as a
commune within the
''département'' of
Vendée.
Geography
Beafou is located in the west of France, north of the
Vendée department: 20 km north of
La Roche-sur-Yon
La Roche-sur-Yon () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is the capital of the department. The demonym for its inhabitants is ''Yonnais''.
History
The town expanded significantly after Napo ...
, 50 km south of
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, and 40 km from the
Atlantic coast.
The municipal territory of Beaufou covers 2,798 hectares. The average altitude of the municipality is 62 meters, with height fluctuating between 28 and 74 meters.
History
In Beaufou the traces of human presence date back to the
Neolithic period. Polished stone axes were found at Auspierre, Boisrond, La Charnière and Pré-Sec.
The Roman road linking Saint-Georges-de-Montaigu to Sables d'Olonne crossed the town of Auspierre through Cantria and Marlaie.
The Romanesque church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, built in the twelfth century, depended on the abbey of Marmoutier-les-Tours (Indre-et-Loire). In March 1568, the church was burned by the
Huguenots. From 1648, it fell under the diocese of Luçon and was restored in 1652. Around 1705, the priest, learning the apparitions at Paray-le-Monial in 1673 and 1675, launched the cult of the Sacred Heart.
In 1793 and 1794, during their 13 passages, the
infernal columns
The infernal columns ( French: ''colonnes infernales'') were operations led by the French Revolutionary general Louis Marie Turreau in the War in the Vendée, after the failure of the Royalist Virée de Galerne. Following the passage on 1 Augus ...
massacred a large part of the population and burned 57 houses and the church, which was restored in the early nineteenth century.
See also
*
Communes of the Vendée department
References
Communes of Vendée
{{Vendée-geo-stub