Torfou () is a former commune in the

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indr ...

department in western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Inhabitants of Torfou are known as Torfousiens and Torfousiennes.

Geography

Torfou covers 32.35 km². It is situated along the Sèvre Nantaise river, 25 miles (40 km) Southeast of

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, and 12 miles (20 km) West of Cholet (reachable by rail from both cities). The town is also at the border of three former

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

: Anjou (

Poitou Poitou ( , , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical ...

(

Vendée Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

(

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...

History

During the early years of the French revolutionary wars, the town found itself at the heart of the counter-revolutionary struggle in the Vendée, especially on 19 September 1793, with the Battle of Torfou. This battle pitted many Royalist military leaders against Republican troops under Kléber and Canclaux and followed by a period of brutal government repression. On 15 December 2015, Le Longeron, Montfaucon-Montigné, La Renaudière, Roussay, Saint-André-de-la-Marche, Saint-Crespin-sur-Moine, Saint-Germain-sur-Moine, Saint-Macaire-en-Mauges, Tillières and Torfou merged becoming one commune called Sèvremoine.

Sights

* La Pierre Tournisse, round monolith of granite standing on an hillock. * La Colonne, column situated at the crossroads of roads D149 and D753, commemorating the Battle of Torfou. * La Voie Romaine, a

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

which was following the Sèvre Nantaise river and linking

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

during

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

. * Les bords de Sèvre, the Sèvre Nantaise river banks.

Twin town

Torfou is twinned with : * Hachen, municipality of Sundern,

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, since 2001.

References

External links

*
Official website
Former communes of Maine-et-Loire {{MaineLoire-geo-stub