La Gonterie-Boulouneix (; oc, La Gontariá e Bolonés) is a former
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
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 ...
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 ...
. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the commune
Brantôme en Périgord
Brantôme en Périgord (, literally ''Brantôme in Périgord''; oc, Brantòsme de Perigòrd) is a Communes of France, commune in the Dordogne Departments of France, department of southwestern France. The municipality was established on 1 January 2 ...
The commune is an amalgamation of the once independent communes ''La Gonterie'' and ''Boulouneix''. La Gonterie refers to ''Gontier'', a well-known patronym in the area. Boulouneix is derived from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
adjective ''Bolonensis'' - i.e. pertaining to the river ''Bolon'' (in Occitan) or ''Boulou''.
Geography
The modern commune of La Gonterie-Boulouneix consists of the three historic communes Belaygue, Boulouneix and La Gonterie associated with hamlets and isolated dwellings like ''Champat'', ''Champébre'', ''Champtonie'', ''Chazeau'', ''Chez Jaumelet'', ''Garelias'', ''L'Étang'', ''La Chataignade'', ''La Combardie'', ''La Nègrerie'', ''La Plagne'', ''La Suchonie'', ''La Sudrie'' or ''Les Sudries'', ''La Tabaterie'', ''Landrivie'', ''Le(s) Bernard(s)'', ''Le Clos du Pont'', ''Le Couderc'' or ''Le Coudert'', ''Le Haut-Palange'', ''Le Maine'', ''Leforesterie'', ''Les Boutétias'', ''Les Marquisats'', ''Maison-neuve'', ''Malet'', ''Moulin de la Faye'' and ''Palange''.
The commune's area is traversed in a NE-SW direction by the Boulou and its left tributary ''Le Belaygue''. Several times the Boulou traces the northwestern boundary of the commune. The Belaygue enters the commune's territory from the northeast, flows past the villages of Belaygue and Boulouneix and merges in the far southwest with the Boulou.
La Gonterie-Boulouneix is surrounded by the following communes:
* Saint-Félix-de-Bourdeilles in the north.
* Saint-Crépin-de-Richemont in the northeast.
* Brantôme in the east and the southeast.
* Saint-Julien-de-Bourdeilles in the south.
* Paussac-et-Saint-Vivien in the southwest.
* Leguillac-de-Cercles in the west and the northwest.
The village of La Gonterie is situated 5 kilometers northwest of Brantôme and 17 kilometers south-southwest of
Nontron
Nontron (; oc, Nontronh ) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France.
History
The name Nontron probably derives from the Gallo-Roman personal name ''Nantironius''. Over time, the placename has been spel ...
.
No major through road crosses the commune's territory. The communal road C 1 connects La Gonterie to the D 939, a major trunk road from
Périgueux
Périgueux (, ; oc, Peireguers or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France.
Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is al ...
to Angoulême about 2 kilometers farther to the northeast.
Orographically the commune's lowest point is situated at the confluence of the Belaygue and the Boulou 105 meters above sea level. The highest elevation reaches 202 meters near Champat in the northeast.
The commune borders the
Parc naturel régional Périgord Limousin
The Parc naturel régional Périgord Limousin (or Périgord Limousin Regional Natural Park) was created March 9, 1998. It consists of 78 communes situated in the Dordogne and Haute Vienne départements. The park has a surface area of 1,800 square ...
.
Geology
The communal territory is mainly underlain by flat-lying
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
s, the vast majority being Coniacian limestones. Near Marquisat in the north appear Upper Turonian limestones of the ''Angoumian'' facies. The higher elevations around La Gonterie are taken up by Lower Santonian limestones. In the Boulou valley the Coniacian is a cliff former with
abri
A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves ( karst), which are often many miles long, rock shelters are almost alwa ...
s and
cave
A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...
s (cave of la Sudrie, abris near La Nègrerie and La Tabaterie). Between Marquisat and Belaygue a major fault zone crosses in a NW-SE direction. This fault zone is a prolongation of the Mareuil anticline. In some high places the Cretaceous sediments are covered by alluvial and colluvial deposits of the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
, mainly sands, gravels and clays.
History
The presence of hominids can be traced back in La Gonterie-Boulouneix to the paleolithic. Lithic artefacts from the
Mousterian
The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the l ...
have been discovered in the abris of ''Sendouge'' (also ''Sandougne'') and La Tabaterie in the southwest. A partially fortified hillfort (an oppidum taking up 13.5 hectares) was established during the second
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
about 600 to 500 BC on ''Roc Plat'' 20 to 30 meters above the abris at Sendouge. The
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
left some remnants of an aqueduct (masonry) in the ancient graveyard of Boulouneix. The Romanesque church in Saintonge style of Boulouneix dates back to the 12th century. In ancient days Boulouneix used to house a convent dependent on Brantôme and a village logically called ''Labayat''. At about the same the Benedictines founded a (now ruined) priory for
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s in Belaygue. The church in La Gonterie dates back to the 18th century. In the year 1806 the communes of Belaygue and Boulouneix were united. The modern name of La Gonterie-Boulouneix exists since 1912.