Saint-Paul-la-Roche (; Limousin: ''Sent Pau la Ròcha''), is a commune in the northeast of the Dordogne

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France. The commune is integrated into the Regional Natural Parc Périgord Limousin.

Etymology

The commune's name is derived from

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

and the hamlet ''La Roche'' (''the rock'') referring to the white quartz rocks (''La Roche Blanche'') cropping out nearby.

Geography

Saint-Paul-la-Roche is situated 9 kilometers northeast of Thiviers and 5 kilometers west-southwest of Jumilhac-le-Grand. It is surrounded by the following communes: * Saint-Priest-les-Fougères in the north. * Jumilhac-le-Grand in the northeast and east. * Sarrazac in the southeast. * Nantheuil in the south. * Thiviers in the southwest. * Saint-Jory-de-Chalais in the west. * Chalais in the west. * La Coquille in the northwest. Besides the main village the commune consists of the following hamlets, farms, mills and castles: ''Artis'', ''Beauplat'', ''Chalamant'', ''Chandeuil'', ''Château de Chalard'', ''Château de Montardy'', ''Château la Val(l)ade'', ''Combier'', ''Curmont'', ''Eleix'', ''Graffanaud'', ''La Brousse'', ''La Bussière'', ''La Chassagne'', ''La Croze'', ''La Fagnade'', ''La Farge'', ''La Genetterie'', ''La Grave'', ''La Jarrige'', ''La Lande de Beauplat'', ''La Lande de la Peyzie'', ''La Lande de Perrières'', ''La Messeillasse'', ''La Messelie'', ''La Morandie'', ''La Mouretie'', ''La Papalie'', ''La Petite Lande'', ''La Petite Pouge'', ''La Peyzie'', ''La Pouille'', ''La Pouyade d'Artis'', ''La Renolphie'', ''La Rivalie'', ''La Roche'', ''La Tuillère'', ''La Val(l)ade'', ''Lascombas'', ''Lavaud'', ''Le Chalard'', ''Le Chalaret'', ''Le Chatenet'', ''Le Chêne Blanc'', ''Le Goinaud'', ''Le Grand Bois'', ''Le Marguillier'', ''Le Minaret'', ''Le Moulin de la Brousse'', ''Le Moulin de la Peyzie'', ''Le Moulin du Breuilh'', ''Le Petit Clos'', ''(Le) Pierrefiche'', ''Le Rieu Mort'', ''Le Rouchoux de la Forêt'', ''Les Pradelles de Chalamant'', ''Les Pradelles de Lintignac'', ''Lintignac'', ''Paradinas'', ''Poirier Bernard'', ''Poirier Vachat'', ''Pont-Fermier'' and ''Vialotte''. The southwest-flowing river

Isle An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...

forms the southeastern boundary of the commune with Sarrazac and Jumilhac-le-Grand. The commune is drained in a southerly direction by the small river Rochille. Just before reaching the southern border the Rochille merges with the Valouse as its major left-hand tributary. The Valouse traverses the western side of the commune's territory (following a south-southwesterly direction) and represents for several kilometers the boundary with Chalais. After its confluence with the Rochille it ends shortly after as a right-hand tributary to the Isle. Immediately after having touched the commune's perimeter in the southeast the Isle receives four small right-hand tributaries, whose valleys are oriented south-southeast. The ''Ruisseau de Curmont'' is also a small right-hand tributary to the Isle; yet its course runs west-east and defines the boundary to Nantheuil in the south. This small stream is paralleled farther north by the ''Ruisseau de la Val(lade)'' merging with the Valouse as a right-hand tributary. The topographically lowest point within the commune at an altitude of 178 meters is found at the confluence of the ''Ruisseau de Curmont'' with the Isle; at this point the Isle leaves the commune's territory and continues southwest. The highest point with 342 meters above sea level is close to the hamlet ''La Lande des Perrières'' northeast of the village center.

Geology

Saint-Paul-la-Roche is living up to its name by offering a very diverse and rather complicated geology. The commune is situated entirely on the metamorphic

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

rocks of the northwestern Massif Central. Structurally these rocks belong to three different

thrust sheets In geology, a nappe or thrust sheet is a large sheetlike body of rock that has been moved more than or above a thrust fault from its original position. Nappes form in compressional tectonic settings like continental collision zones or on the ...

, the Lower Gneiss Nappe, the Upper Gneiss Nappe and at the southwest corner the

Thiviers-Payzac Unit The Thiviers-Payzac Unit is a metasedimentary succession of late Neoproterozoic and Cambrian age outcropping in the southern Limousin in France. The unit geologically forms part of the Variscan basement of the northwestern Massif Central. Ter ...

. The Lower Gneiss Nappe mainly comprises micaschists associated with micaceous paragneisses, paragneisses and medium-grained

leptynite Granulites are a class of high-grade metamorphic rocks of the granulite facies that have experienced high-temperature and moderate-pressure metamorphism. They are medium to coarse–grained and mainly composed of feldspars sometimes associated ...

s, the Upper Gneiss Nappe is mainly composed of paragneisses enclosing some leptynites. The medium-grained leptynites within the Lower Gneiss Nappe form an arc-shaped structure, the so-called ''Saint-Yrieix arc''. The micaschists are derived from

argilite :''"Argillite" may also refer to Argillite, Kentucky.'' Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of Friability, indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and Pelagic sediment, oozes. T ...

s, the paragneisses most probably from Neoproterozoic greywackes and the micaceous paragneisses from more clay-rich greywackes. The leptynites have a granitic composition and either represent granites or

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

s; they are of Ordovician age, thus very much younger than the enclosing country rocks. The Thiviers-Payzac Unit to the southwest consists of the Payzac Quartzite, a less metamorphosed equivalent of the

rhyodacitic Rhyodacite is a volcanic rock intermediate in composition between dacite and rhyolite. It is the extrusive equivalent of those plutonic rocks that are intermediate in composition between monzogranite and granodiorite. Rhyodacites form from rapid ...

Thiviers Sandstone. The steeply dipping, ESE-striking rocks of the Thiviers-Payzac Unit upthrust obliquely over the Upper Gneiss Unit with a right-lateral shearing component. The Upper Gneiss Unit strikes southwest-northeast and in turn overrides The Lower Gneiss Unit to the northwest, also showing a SW-NE strike. Enclosed within the micaschists are basic and ultrabasic rocks of the Roche Noire Massif (near the hamlet ''La Valade''), mainly metagabbros and

peridotite Peridotite ( ) is a dense, coarse-grained igneous rock consisting mostly of the silicate minerals olivine and pyroxene. Peridotite is ultramafic, as the rock contains less than 45% silica. It is high in magnesium (Mg2+), reflecting the high prop ...

s. These are some of the very few remnants of oceanic crust left behind from a now subducted ocean. The Massif also exhibits several tectonic lenses of serpentinised

amphibolite Amphibolite () is a metamorphic rock that contains amphibole, especially hornblende and actinolite, as well as plagioclase feldspar, but with little or no quartz. It is typically dark-colored and dense, with a weakly foliated or schistose (flaky ...

s and a bigger serpentinite body. Within the micaschists and the micaceous paragneisses there are streaks of garnet-bearing amphibolites, which in some places also invade the paragneisses.

Epidote Epidote is a calcium aluminium iron sorosilicate mineral. Description Well developed crystals of epidote, Ca2Al2(Fe3+;Al)(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH), crystallizing in the monoclinic system, are of frequent occurrence: they are commonly prismatic in habi ...

-bearing amphibolites occur as well, they are found in micaceous paragneisses near the cemetery, in leptynites near ''Lintignac'' and in the Payzac Quartzite near ''Curmont''. Even some small eclogite outcrops do exist, for instance three near ''Graffanaud'' along the Valouse and one near ''Combier'' at the Isle. There are also some small bands of dacitic metatuffs enclosed within the paragneisses, the micaceous paragneisses and in the Payzac Quartzite. An oddity is the massive quartz outcrop near ''La Roche'' which has been completely quarried by now. This very pure, milky exsudation quartz was once sought after by NASA for optical devices (lenses etc.). Under magnification one can observe many parallel shear planes of tectonic origin. The quarry once contained single quartz crystals in the decimeter and meter range. The metamorphic conditions of the country rocks reached medium and high grade. The Payzac Quartzite has crossed the

staurolite Staurolite is a reddish brown to black, mostly opaque, nesosilicate mineral with a white streak. It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, has a Mohs hardness of 7 to 7.5 and the chemical formula: Fe2+2Al9O6(SiO4)4(O,OH)2. Magnesium, zinc ...

isograd, the Upper Gneiss Unit belongs mainly to the staurolite zone and parts of the Lower Gneiss Unit even have reached the kyanite isograd (near the village center and in the north). The country rocks are traversed by three major north-south-striking faults (north of ''Chalamant'', in the village center and near ''Le Rouchou de la Forêt''), which offset the stratigraphy. The faults at ''Chalamant'' and ''Le Rouchou de la Forêt'' are brecciated and

cataclastic A cataclastic rock is a type of fault rock that has been wholly or partly formed by the progressive fracturing and comminution of existing rocks, a process known as ''cataclasis''. Cataclasis involves the granulation, crushing, or milling of the ori ...

. The latter is a major fault, it even cuts off tectonic units (like the oceanic Sarrazac Massif from the Upper Gneiss Unit); it can be traced to Sarrazac in the south, in the north it splays out. Some of the higher ridges are mantled by Tertiary

alterite Alterite ( IMA symbol: Atr) is a yellow-green mineral with the chemical formula ZnFe(SO)(CO)(OH)·17HO. Its type locality is Coconino County, Arizona.Pliocene fluvial gravels (tongues near ''La Lande de Beauplat'', ''La Lande de Perrières'', ''La Petite Lande'' and ''Le Pierrefiche'') and colluvium. The colluvium underlies the gravel tongues and probably dates back to the Eocene, but was later reworked during the Pleistocene (ice ages).

History

The Château de Chalard is mentioned for the first time in the 11th century. Most of it was destroyed during the

Hundred Years War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagen ...

. The Romanesque village church of Saint-Paul-la-Roche dates back to the 12th century. The Château de Montardy was built during the 15th century on a site occupied before by a

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

stronghold.

Population

Sights

* The Romanesque village church. * The castle Château de Chalard. * The castle Château de Montardy. * ''La maison templière'', an ancient dwelling of the Knights Templar.

Access

Close to the western boundary of the commune passes the major trunk road N 21 from

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

to Périgueux. It is paralleled by the railway line Limoges – Thiviers. The southeastern and southern border is followed by the D 78 from Jumilhac-le-Grand to Thiviers. The D 67 comes from La Coquille, crosses the village center and continues to Sarrazac in the SSE. Several communal roads (C roads) join the village center with its many hamlets.

References

Literature

* Guillot, P.-L. et al. Feuille Thiviers. Carte géologique de la France à 1/50000. BRGM. * Richard, D. et al. (1993). Le Guide Dordogne Périgord. Éditions Fanlac. Périgueux.

External links

Saint-Paul-la-Roche on the website of annuaire-mairie.fr

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saintpaullaroche Communes of Dordogne