La Roque-Sainte-Marguerite (; oc, La Ròca) is a
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
Aveyron
Aveyron (; oc, Avairon; ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyronnais'' (masculine) or ''Aveyronnaises'' (feminine) in French. The inhabitants ...
department in southern
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 ...
.
Lying deep in the scenic
Dourbie
The Dourbie (; oc, Dorbia) is a long river in southern France. It is a left tributary of the Tarn. Its source is north of Le Vigan, in the Cévennes. It flows generally west through the following departments and towns:
* Gard: Dourbies
* Av ...
gorge, the commune absorbed the formerly separate commune of St Verin in 1940, and it also incorporates the village of Pierrefiche du
Larzac
The Larzac, also known as the Causse of Larzac (French: ''Causse du Larzac''), is a limestone karst plateau in the south of the Massif Central, France, situated between Millau (in the département of l'Aveyron) and Lodève (in the départe ...
, which lies much higher on the ''Causse du Larzac'' (Larzac
Plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
), at about 670 metres above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
.
The village lies about east of
Millau. The main industry for the residents who still work locally is tourism: the most visited site in Aveyron for tourists, Le
Chaos de Montpellier-le-Vieux, is within its bounds. But most working residents commute into Millau.
On the Causse du Larzac, the villagers of Pierrefiche were shepherds, bringing their ewes' milk to the village
dairy to make
Roquefort
Roquefort is a sheep milk cheese from Southern France, and is one of the world's best known blue cheeses. Though similar cheeses are produced elsewhere, EU law dictates that only those cheeses aged in the natural Combalou caves of Roquefort-sur ...
cheese. Until recently there were two flocks of 50 & 200 ewes. The droughts of 2004 have reduced this to one. The sheepskins & fleeces went to Millau for the glove industry.
The castle was the western defence of the formerly heavily guarded Dourbie valley, which was a rich agricultural area in the Middle Ages. Old vine terraces can still be seen lining the deep chasm cut by the river through the Causse plateaux, some 300 m deep.
Population
See also
*
Communes of the Aveyron department
The following is a list of the 285 Communes of France, communes of the Aveyron Departments of France, department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following Communes of France#Intercommunality, intercommunalities (as of 2020):
References
Communes of Aveyron
Aveyron communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia
{{Aveyron-geo-stub