Talmont-sur-Gironde is a commune

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 Charente-Maritime

Charente-Maritime

Charente-Maritime is a department on the west coast of France named after the Charente River.- History :Previously a part of Saintonge, Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

 department in the Poitou-Charentes

Poitou-Charentes

Poitou-Charentes is an administrative region in central western France comprising four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne. The regional capital is Poitiers.-Politics:The regional council is composed of 56 members...

 region

Régions of France

France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

 in southwestern 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...

.

Geography

The village lies about 15 km (9.3 mi) south of Royan

Royan

Royan is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department, along the Atlantic Ocean, in southwestern France.A seaside resort, Royan is in the heart of an urban area estimated at 38,638 inhabitants, which makes it the fourth-largest conurbation in the department, after La Rochelle, Rochefort and Saintes...

, on a small promontory which dominates the Gironde Estuary

Gironde estuary

The Gironde is a navigable estuary , in southwest France and is formed from the meeting of the rivers Dordogne and Garonne just below the centre of Bordeaux...

. It appears to be ‘perched’ on this rocky outcrop, in the way that it occupies every square millimetre of space. Tiny beaches can be found at the base of the fortifications, which mostly are sheer from the sea. Inland there is marshy country and a small waterway runs alongside the south wall of the village.

Population

Sights

The village is a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France is an independent association, created in 1982, which aims to promote assets of small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage...

("The most beautiful villages of France") association.

The village is known for its show of hollyhock

Hollyhock

Alcea , commonly known as hollyhocks, is a genus of about 60 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae. Most species are native to southwest and central Asia, although a few are native to southeast Europe or Egypt...

s, which intrude on the tiny pedestrian-only streets between the small houses.

Church of St Radegonde

The church of St Radegonde

Radegund

Radegund was a 6th century Frankish princess, who founded the monastery of the Holy Cross at Poitiers. Canonized in the 9th century, she is the patron saint of several English churches and of Jesus College, Cambridge.-Life history:Radegund was born about 520 to Bertachar, one of the three kings...

 was built in 1094. The structure appears quite 'squat' and is Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 in character. The church was a resting place for the Pilgrimage of Saint James of Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...

 on the via Turonensis

Tours

Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...

, because the pilgrims crossed the Gironde

Gironde

For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...

 at this spot (Voie de Soulac Littoral Aquitain).

History

The enclosed and fortified village was founded around the church in 1284, according to the plans of the ancient bastides

Bastides

Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony and Aquitaine during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the first bastides...

, on the orders of Edward I of England

Edward I of England

Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...

. During the Hundred Year War which divided England and France, Talmont became a strategic stake. In 1652, the village was destroyed by the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.

Personalities

• Louis II de la Trémoille
  Louis II de la Trémoille
  thumb|Portrait of Louis II de la Trémoille by [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]] or one of his assistants.Louis II de la Trémoille was a French general. He served under three kings: Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I...
  
  , prince of Talmont.

The British artist and writer Avenda Burnell Walsh has her studio based there.

The French arm of Pyjama Press works from Talmont.

External links

• Voie de Soulac 
• Via Turonensis 
• The pilgrimage of St James of Compostela 
• Saint Radegonde