The name
‘Pomport’ - a name which no other village in France has -
could have two original meanings, either ‘Pom portens’ meaning
‘that which bears fruit’, or ‘Le Bon Port’ or ‘Bon Passage (the
good port or thoroughfare). In the Pyrenees there is ‘Somport’
and ‘Saint Jean Pied de Port’. The passage or thoroughfare
theory would correspond with the Santiago de Compostela
pilgrimage route. Pilgrims stopped at St Jacques de Bergerac,
Saint Jacques de Sigoulès then at La Reole, Bazas, Mont de
Marsan, Roncevaux and Pamplona. Many pilgrims travelled
through the Dordogne, particularly once Bergerac fortress had
been built by the beginning of the 12th century.
The Gates of Pomport
The commune of
Pomport is pleasantly situated on the hillsides of southern
Bergerac (at an altitude of 155m) and out of a surface area of
1954 ha, 1200 ha are currently
planted with vines which produce
white Monbazillac wine and red Bergerac wine.
This perhaps supports the ‘Pom portens’, bearer of fruit, theory.
The vineyards of Pomport were first planted by the monks of St
Martin of Bergerac and the monks of Labadie, Colombier as early
as 1100. The local bourgeoisie later increased the size of the
plantations and the wine trade was able to develop thanks to the
river.
The parish,
(Sanctus Petrus de Pomport) dedicated to St Pierre-ès-liens, is
extremely old and is mentioned in St Cybard Abbey’s chartulary
in 1142.
In the middle ages the military headquarters of the Bergerac
Seigneury were based at Pomport. Montcuq fortress, in the
commune of Pomport, played a prominent role during the Hundred
Years War whose first battle in the Périgord is commemorated by
a stele erected by Colonel Brunet.
Effectively, the Count of Derby left Montcuq to take Bergerac on
the 24th August 1345.
Pomport is situated 12km south-west of Bergerac in the canton of
Sigoulès in the first hills of the southern Bergerac area on the
D17 road. Pomport sits atop a chalky-clay hill and from its 155m
dominates the Dordogne plain below and, to the south, the
Gardonette valley.
The commune has a surface area of 1954 hectares and counts a
population of 790.
The town is twinned with Brehan in Brittany.
Text translated by Pays du Grand Bergeracois (professional translator).
