﻿L0IRE-INF6BIEURE. 



loire-inf£rieure. 



670 



St.-Paulien, built on the ruins of an ancient city, said to bo Ruetfium, 

 or Revessia Yellavorum, has a population of 3016 ; several Roman 

 coins, vases, and monuments with inscriptions have been found and are 

 preserved here. Sauyua, a town of 3805 inhabitants, stands in a rich 

 com and pasture country, 16 miles W.S.W. from Le-Puy, and has 

 some wooUen manufactures. Just outside the walls is a monument 

 of rudely cut stone without inscription, which ia traditionally called 

 the Tomb of the English Ueneral. 



2. In the second arrondissement the chief town is Yttengeaux, or 

 Iisengeaiix, an ill-built gloomy place, ia situated on a rocky hill 14 miles 

 N.E. of Le-Puy, and has a tribunal of first instance, a college, and 

 7518 inhabitants, who manufacture silk, lace, and ribands, and trade 

 in timber, cattle, sheep, &c. It is supposed to occupy the site of 

 Icidmagta. The town has a, handsome parish church, the pavement 

 of which is 2822 feet above the level of the sea. It contains also 

 several large and well-built houses. Bat-en-Batset, on the left bank of 

 the Loue, 12 miles from Ysseugeaux, has 5783 inhabitants, who manu- 

 facture lace and pottery. The town, which is commanded by the old 

 castle of Rochebaron, has a mineral spring. St.-Didier, 14 miles N.E. 

 from Tssengeauz, has silk factories and 8972 inhabitants, who manu- 

 facture ribands and articles in papier-mdch^. Monistrolf 12 miles N.E. 

 from Yssengeaux, near the right bank of the Loire, is an ugly ill-built 

 town, with an important corn-market, and 3975 inhabitants, who 

 manufacture lace, ribands, hardware, satin, silk handkerchiefs, leather, 

 and papier-m4ch6 articles. A few miles east of Yssengeaux is 

 Montfaucon, the old capital of the Velay. It was destroyed in the 

 religious wars of the 16th century, and is now a small place of only 

 1200 inhabitants. It was formerly defended by a very strong castle, 

 and gave title to a barony. Tence, a manufacturing town of 5468 

 inhabitants, is prettily situated on the right bank of the Lignon, 9 miles 

 E. by S. from Yssengeaux. 



3. In the third arrondissement the chief town, Brioude, ia situated 

 29 miles N.W. from Le-Puy, near the left bank of the Allier, and has 

 tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a college, and 4635 in- 

 habitants. It is an ill-built town, tmd stands on a site 1466 feet above 

 the seik The most remarkable structures are the church of St.-Julien 

 and the college buildings. Bnoude occupies the site of the ancient 

 Brivat, a town of the Arvemi. There is said to have been a Roman 

 bridge over the river here, and that this circumstance gave origin to 

 the name Briva, or Brivas, meaning a bridge. Constantino is said to 

 have built a church in Brivas. The church of St-Julien dates from 

 the reign of Louis le D^bonnaire, and occupies the site of a still more 

 ancient church, which was built over the spot where the sa'mt suffered 

 martyrdom. LorChaue-IHea, 15 miles E. from Brioude, a town of 2000 

 inhabitants, takes its name from the monaster; of Cboiae-Dieu (Casa 

 Dei), which, with the exception of the church, was destroyed during the 

 revolution of 1793. The abbey church, a gotbic structure, erected about 

 the middle of the 14th century, at the expense of Pope Clement VI., a 

 native of Chaise-Dieu, is considered one of the finest abbey churches 

 remaining in Fraoce : it contains tombs of Clement V 1. and Gregory XL, 

 some very ancient tajieatries, and is greatly admired for the carved 

 wood-work of the 15U staUs in the choir. The walls of the choir are 

 ornamented with ancient paintings in fresco, representing the Danse 

 Uacabre, or Dance of the Dead. The total length of the church ia 

 802 feet, and the width within the walla 95 feet^ The choir is 131 feet 

 long, and its bold groined roof is supported by 22 pillars, each 26 feet 

 in circumference. In the middle of the choir ia the black marble 

 monument of Clement VI., who was educated in the abbey of Chaise- 

 Dieu and buried in the church. The organ is a splendid instrument 

 The portal entrance of the church is decorated with numerous bas- 

 reliefa executed in black basalt Languic, built in a pretty aituation, 

 on the left bank of the Allier, has 8231 inhabitanta. There are coal- 

 mines and stone-quarries near this town. 



The department forms the see of the Bishop of Le-Puy, is included 

 in the jurisdiction of the High Court of Riom, and of the University 

 Academy of Clermont, and belongs to the 20th Military Division, of 

 which Clermont is head-quarters. It retuma two membera to the 

 Legialative Body of the French empire. 



(Piclionnain de la France; Annuaire pour I' An 1853; Official 

 Paptrt.) 



LOIRE-INFfiRIEURE, a department in the west of France, is 

 bounded N. by the departments of Morbihan and lUe-et-Vilaine, E. by 

 those of Mayenne and Maine-et-Loire, S. by that of Vendue, and W. by 

 the Bay of Biscay. It extends from 46° 62' to 47° 62' N. lat, 0° 55' 

 to 2° 32' W. long. ; its greatest length from east to west is 74 miles, 

 from north to south 69 miles. The area ia 2654°3 aquare miles : the 

 population in 1841 waa 486,806 ; in 1851 it amounted to 535,664 ; 

 which last gives 201'89 to the square mile, being 27'31 above the 

 average per square mile for all France. The department ia formed 

 out of part of Bretagne, and derives its name from its position along 

 the lower course of the river Loire. The south-west portion of the 

 department constituted the old duchy of Rttz, of which Pomic, 

 Paimtxeuf, and Machecoul were the chief towns. It waa originally 

 included in Aquitaine, in the extended application of that t<!rm 

 [AqcitaCK] ; subsequently it belonged to Poitou ; and finally it was 

 annexed to the diocese of Nantes, and thus came to be considered 

 part of Bretagne. The castles of Machecoul and Champtoce (the 

 latter near Ingiande, in the department of Maina-et-Loire) were the 



scenes of the atrocious crimes of Gilles de Laval, lord of Retz, the 

 original of Blue Beard. 



The coast line is about 55 miles in length. It presents an irregular 

 outline, broken towards the north by the bays of Pennebe and Pembron, 

 which are separated by the promontory of Piriac and by the bay of 

 Croisic, sheltered on the south aud west by the long tongue of land 

 on which the town of Croisic is built ; in the centre by the embouchure 

 of the Loire, to the north of which are some islets called the Leven 

 Ides ; and in the southern part by the large Bay of Bourgneuf, which 

 extends southward from Point-St.-Gildas between the mainland and 

 the island of Noirmoutier. Of the promontory of Croisio there is a 

 dangerous ledge called Le-Pour, on whieh a lighthouse is built. There 

 are considerable salt-marshes along this coast. 



The surface of the interior of the department is level, with the 

 exception of a line of low hills, which crosses it in the north, form- 

 ing the watershed between the Loire and the Vilaiue. The principal 

 river is the Loire, which enters the department below Ingrande in 

 Maine-et-Loire, and divides it into two unequal parts. It is 5 miles 

 wide at its mouth, and is navigable for large vessels up to Nantes, to 

 a few miles above which the tide ascends. [Loire, La.] The prin- 

 cipal feeders of the Loire in this department are, from the left, the 

 S^vre-Nantaise [SfeVRES, Deux] and the Acheuau, which last is the 

 outlet of the Lake of Grand- Lieu ; from the rigli t, the Erdre, which below 

 Nort swells out into the proportions of a lake, and enters the Loire 

 at Nantes. The Vilaiue touches the department on the north-west, 

 receiving the Don and the Isao. The other most considerable rivers 

 are the Maine and the Moine, feeders of the Sdvre-Nantaise ; the Ognon 

 and the Boulogne, which flow from Vendue into the Lake of Grand- 

 Lieu ; the Falleron, a small stream which falls into the Bay of Bourg- 

 neuf, after forming for about 10 miles the boundary between Loire- 

 Infdrieure and La Vendue ; the Briv4, which enters the Loiie above 

 St-Nazaire ; and the Tenu, a feeder of the Achenau. The depart- 

 ment ia croased by the canal from Nantes to Brest ; also by 6 royal, 

 17 departmental, and a great number of parish roads. A railway 

 through Angers, Tours, and OrMaus connects Nantes, the capital of 

 the department, with Paris. The climate is healthy, although some- 

 what damp ; the heat in 8umm>-r is often very great 



Grand-Lien, the largest lake in France, and the reservoir for the 

 waters of the Boulogne, the Ognon, and some smaller streams, is 

 situated near the left bank of the Loire, with which it has communi- 

 cation by its navigable outlet the Achenau. It has an area of 29 square 

 miles, and abounds in fish ; its shores are marshy. North of the Loire 

 there are many small lakes, and extensive marshes and bogs. It has 

 been recently proposed to drain the lake of Grand-Lieu. 



The quantity of cereal grain produced suffices the consumption. 

 The chief crops of this kind are wheat, rye, buckwheat, aud mixed 

 grain. Barley ia grown in small quantity. The meadows and pastures 

 along the Loire, in the islands formed by the deposits of the river, and 

 in the neighbourhood of the marshes are excellent. Cattle of good 

 breed are very numerous ; horses, of which also great numbers are 

 reared, are small. The apple-tree is extensively cultivated north of 

 the Loire for making cider; and in the same district there are forests 

 of vast extent. The Socage district, which stretches south-east of the 

 Lake of Grand-Lieu, is hilly and well wooded, as the name implies, 

 every field being inclosed with hedgerows and lines of timber-trees. 

 The vineyards of the department yield 32,200,000 gallons of wine 

 annually, rather less than a third of which is used for the home con- 

 sumption ; of the surplus part goes to the supply of Paris, some is 

 distilled into brandy, and the rest is aent to Orldans to be converted 

 into vinegar. The wines are considered of middling quality; the 

 sweet wines are prized for their agreeable flavour and for their keeping 

 qualities. Fishing affords occupation to a great number of the in- 

 habitants. The principal kinds of fish taken along the coist are 

 mackerel, herring, salmon, turbot, sardines, soles, skait, oysters and 

 other shell-fish, Ac. 



The department is occupied chiefly by the coal-measures, and the 

 underlying strata is covered in some places by alluvial deposits. 

 Granite, quartz, mica, kaolin, aud feldspar are found in tho arrondisse- 

 ment of Nantes ; in that of Chdteaubriaut extensive slate-quarries are 

 worked, and iron-ore is abundant, supplying 20 forges, blast-furnaces, 

 and foundries. In the arrondissements of Chdteaubriant and Ancenis 

 there are important mines of coal of excellent quality. The most 

 important mines are those of Nort and Moutrelais. Magnetic iron ia 

 found in isolated particles on the surface of tho ground on the right 

 shore of the embouchure of the Loire. Peat is dug on the north shore 

 of the embouchure of the Loire. Near Crossao there is a mine of lead 

 not worked. A tin-mine is worked near Piriac. There are mineral 

 springs and sea-bathing establishments at Plaine and Pomic. 



The principal manufactures are linen, calico, printed cotton, serge, 

 and coarse woollen stufls, which are manufactured chiefly at Nantes, 

 Clisson, Chateaubriant, and Qudrande; ship-building is extensively 

 carried on at Nantes, Paimboeuf, and Pellerin ; and at Indret, one of 

 the islands in the Loire, near Nautea, there are establishments for the 

 manufacture of steam-machiuery, and slips for building steam-frigates. 

 Other articles of industrial produce are— paper, leather, porcelain, 

 glass, ship-cordage, ohain-caHes, cotton-yarn, refined sugar, &c. 

 [Nantes.] There are in tho departmeut IGUS wind- and water-mills, 

 52 iron-forges and blast-furnaces, and 76 factories of various kinds. 



