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A Brief
History
Montclar (11th - 18th
century) is no ordinary village. It used to reign over ten
parishes stretching from St Laurent des Batons to Montagnac la
Crempse. The village is suffused with history and the stones
tell the story themselves.
Large fairs and markets attract traders, buyers, farmers and
silver-tongued salesmen...
Montclar has always been inhabited by lawyers and other
members of the legal profession, by doctors, tradesmen and
shopkeepers and, consequently, the village and its
surroundings are notable for their lack of big, old farms. The
ground floor of the large houses, fortifications of a kind,
served as workshop, shop and depot.
Don’t waste time looking for the church - there has never been
one. The hamlet of St Georges, a little further away, has the
church, built on the site of a Gallo-Roman religious edifice.
Montclar used, however, to have a chapel within the castle
walls although recent excavations have yet to find any trace
of it. It was called St Macaire’s Chapel.
In 1960 an old building near the château, in what is now the
Rue du Castello, was renovated and turned into St Theresa’s
Chapel.
A restored building which today provides HLM council housing
was once the site of the village communal or ‘banal’ oven,
although now the only evidence of its existence is to be found
in documents.
A smithy situated near the Caudeau stream fashioned much of
the raw material (cast iron, iron) coming from the central
Périgourdin forges.
Montclar has a strong literary heritage thanks, over the
centuries, to the presence of such illustrious authors as
Rabelais, Montaigne, La Roche Foucault and, more recently,
Catherine Pozzi and Paul Valérie. Recent cultural events
borrow from this tradition.
In 1999 Montclar hosted a conference entitled :
From Rabelais to Montaigne with the Estissac in Périgord.
Presided over by : Bernard Lesfargues
Speakers included :
Mme Madeleine Lazard, Emeritus professor of the Sorbonne.
Mme Anne Marie Cocular, President of Bordeaux 3 University.
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