Roquebrun
Encyclopedia
Roquebrun is a commune
in the Hérault
department in Languedoc-Roussillon
in southern France
.
ENTRY FOR WIKIPEDIA- ROQUEBRUN FRANCE 34460
LOCATION
Roquebrun is a large village situated near the southern entry to the National Park of the High Languedoc. Most of the village is between 200 to 350 meters above sea level and more than 100 meters above the river Orb which flows from the mountains to the west.
CLIMATE and VEGITATION
Overall the pattern of weather is Mediterranean but Roquebrun is also affected by the winds of the Massive Central to the north and the Pyrenees to the west. However the village is sheltered by hills to the north, east and west and this with the remnants of nearby heat from underlying volcanic intrusion produces a microclimate in which oranges and pomegranates fruit. Roquebrun is also known as the Le Petit Nice for its vegetation, which are dominantly grape vines and the small very hardy green oak. Parasol Pines and a wide variety of other trees and shrubs abound especially by the river and higher in the hills. The lower slopes of the hills are covered by the vegetation of the garrigue being olive, cistus, thyme, rosemary, arbousier (strawberry tree) and other flowers and shrubs.
GEOLOGY
The hills and valleys of Roquebrun are formed on a fold from the north east and a recumbent fold from south west. The exposed hard rocks are Ordovician schist and Devonian dolomite. The dolomite forms a vertical ridge upon which the 8th century fortification tower is situated. The junction of the two folds is the valley leading to the hamlet of Laurenque.
ADMINISTRATION
Roquebrun has a Mairie, post office, fire station and tourist office. It is served with broadband/wifi (ADSL).
POPULATION AND RESIDENCE
In 2009 the population was nearly 600, most in Roquebrun and the hamlets of Ceps and Laurenque. In the summer vacation the population sometimes reaches 3,000. The village houses have been restored and new houses built mostly as second homes for French, Belgian, Dutch, German, English and Danish persons.
ECONOMY
The main economy is based on the wine production of the cave cooperative and the four private producers. Fruit and vegetables add to the economy. There are resident artisans, artists, musicians and writers and a variety of professionals but the nearest doctors are three miles away in the next and larger village. There are two restaurants, a wine bar, a large general store, a bar, newsagent and baker. Accommodation may be found in gites, at the chamber d’hote and at the camping-hotel. There is a small market on Friday mornings. In the summer the river is busy with the kayaks and canoes supplied by a Roquebrun enterprise.
ACTIVITIES
Roquebrun has a wide variety of sport and cultural associations open to all. The special event is the Mimosa fete which is on the second Sunday of February. There are several other fetes, special markets(for instance of regional food and of pottery),concerts,dances and feasts. Hunting the sanglier (wild pig) begins on the 15th of August and concludes in mid-January.
HISTORY
There are neolithic sites nearby and the Romans occupied the region but there seem to be no signs of that occupation in Roquebrun. The origins of the village are about 2 miles away in the Prieure of St Andre which includes the chapel of AD 600. St Andre walked from Italy and is said to have taken with him orange saplings which he planted at the site. The Franks under Charles Martel built the fortress tower Roquebrun sometime between 720 and 760. The tower is one of many fortresses that remain in the area that protected against the further incursion of the North African Berbers and Arabs who invaded in 719 and took the regional capital, Beziers in 720. The tower is the main image on the Roquebrun coat of arms. There were conflicts in the area up to and through the 1789 revolution and beyond.
The village was dominated by several powerful competing families. The poor majority found a living from the poor soil of the hills by raising sheep and goats, fishing, olives, vines and flour from sweet chestnuts. The population was much reduced by the black plague and subsequently by tuberculosis and cholera. The population grew rapidly from about 1800 and was supported by the economy of wine production from the 1820’s with a break after a destructive infection of the vines in the 1840s. Rail transport was the means to distribute the wine internally and to the ports. Spanish workers began to settle in Roquebrun from about 1850 and refugees from the civil war settled in the late 1930s.
The war memorial displays the names of N from World War I, one from World War I1 and one from the conflict in Algeria.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Hérault
Hérault
Hérault is a department in the south of France named after the Hérault river.-History:Hérault is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
department in Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the 27 regions of France. It comprises five departments, and borders the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées on the one side, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean sea on the other side.-Geography:The region is...
in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
See also
- Communes of the Hérault department
ENTRY FOR WIKIPEDIA- ROQUEBRUN FRANCE 34460
LOCATION
Roquebrun is a large village situated near the southern entry to the National Park of the High Languedoc. Most of the village is between 200 to 350 meters above sea level and more than 100 meters above the river Orb which flows from the mountains to the west.
CLIMATE and VEGITATION
Overall the pattern of weather is Mediterranean but Roquebrun is also affected by the winds of the Massive Central to the north and the Pyrenees to the west. However the village is sheltered by hills to the north, east and west and this with the remnants of nearby heat from underlying volcanic intrusion produces a microclimate in which oranges and pomegranates fruit. Roquebrun is also known as the Le Petit Nice for its vegetation, which are dominantly grape vines and the small very hardy green oak. Parasol Pines and a wide variety of other trees and shrubs abound especially by the river and higher in the hills. The lower slopes of the hills are covered by the vegetation of the garrigue being olive, cistus, thyme, rosemary, arbousier (strawberry tree) and other flowers and shrubs.
GEOLOGY
The hills and valleys of Roquebrun are formed on a fold from the north east and a recumbent fold from south west. The exposed hard rocks are Ordovician schist and Devonian dolomite. The dolomite forms a vertical ridge upon which the 8th century fortification tower is situated. The junction of the two folds is the valley leading to the hamlet of Laurenque.
ADMINISTRATION
Roquebrun has a Mairie, post office, fire station and tourist office. It is served with broadband/wifi (ADSL).
POPULATION AND RESIDENCE
In 2009 the population was nearly 600, most in Roquebrun and the hamlets of Ceps and Laurenque. In the summer vacation the population sometimes reaches 3,000. The village houses have been restored and new houses built mostly as second homes for French, Belgian, Dutch, German, English and Danish persons.
ECONOMY
The main economy is based on the wine production of the cave cooperative and the four private producers. Fruit and vegetables add to the economy. There are resident artisans, artists, musicians and writers and a variety of professionals but the nearest doctors are three miles away in the next and larger village. There are two restaurants, a wine bar, a large general store, a bar, newsagent and baker. Accommodation may be found in gites, at the chamber d’hote and at the camping-hotel. There is a small market on Friday mornings. In the summer the river is busy with the kayaks and canoes supplied by a Roquebrun enterprise.
ACTIVITIES
Roquebrun has a wide variety of sport and cultural associations open to all. The special event is the Mimosa fete which is on the second Sunday of February. There are several other fetes, special markets(for instance of regional food and of pottery),concerts,dances and feasts. Hunting the sanglier (wild pig) begins on the 15th of August and concludes in mid-January.
HISTORY
There are neolithic sites nearby and the Romans occupied the region but there seem to be no signs of that occupation in Roquebrun. The origins of the village are about 2 miles away in the Prieure of St Andre which includes the chapel of AD 600. St Andre walked from Italy and is said to have taken with him orange saplings which he planted at the site. The Franks under Charles Martel built the fortress tower Roquebrun sometime between 720 and 760. The tower is one of many fortresses that remain in the area that protected against the further incursion of the North African Berbers and Arabs who invaded in 719 and took the regional capital, Beziers in 720. The tower is the main image on the Roquebrun coat of arms. There were conflicts in the area up to and through the 1789 revolution and beyond.
The village was dominated by several powerful competing families. The poor majority found a living from the poor soil of the hills by raising sheep and goats, fishing, olives, vines and flour from sweet chestnuts. The population was much reduced by the black plague and subsequently by tuberculosis and cholera. The population grew rapidly from about 1800 and was supported by the economy of wine production from the 1820’s with a break after a destructive infection of the vines in the 1840s. Rail transport was the means to distribute the wine internally and to the ports. Spanish workers began to settle in Roquebrun from about 1850 and refugees from the civil war settled in the late 1930s.
The war memorial displays the names of N from World War I, one from World War I1 and one from the conflict in Algeria.