Lacalm

Lacalm is a commune of the north of the Département of Aveyron, located at the south of the plate of the Aubrac, in the canton of Holy Genevieve on Argence (plate of High Viadène). Google Maps ''' 12210 Lacalm, ''' Seen satellite

MapQuest ''' 12210 Laguiole, ''' Two clicks in North + a click in the East

Some old postcards are visible here:

How to go there

From Paris: Highway of the south - Orleans, Bourges, Clermont-Ferrand, Saint-Flour

Then D921 - Saint-Flour, Heat-Acute - Lacalm

By plane: Airport of Rodez

By train: Park of Saint-Flour or Station of Rodez

Etymology

The name of the village decides Lacan. The inhabitants are Lacannais and Lacannaises. The etymology given by the Bosc historian is the following one: “this name of Lacalm, commun run at several villages of Rouergue, derives from an old Celtic word which means “high-plain”. The word Calm was used between 15th and the 17th century to indicate on these heights a certain type of property.

An old story

Henry Affre notes that “it is claimed that the king Pépin the Brief, by a diploma gone back to Narbonne the year 767, establishes in Lacalm a municipal council made up of a consul and six advisers, to which it gave the civil police force and that of the fort, with the right to wear dresses and hoods, and to regulate the different ones who could rise between the inhabitants and the foreigners about the markets and pacts of trade which would take place in the fairs of this small town”.

Lacalm is still a village considered for its cattle fairs, most important being that being held every August 29th.

Henry Affre, quoting Bosc, indicates that “a more authentic concession is that which was done with this borough, in 1226, by the king Louis VIII (to include/understand Louis VIII of France), who energy of Toulouse with Montpensier, confirmed to the inhabitants of Lacalm all their privileges, and granted to them, in reward of their races and military forwardings, the wood of Galats, Fonrougettes, Lieuternes, Lacazelle and other grounds, as well as the use of the wood of Guirande for the construction of their buildings. ”.

The wood of Guirande (often here marked wood “of Igrande”) is today a communal field, located at one to two kilometers of the exit of the village on the road of Cantoin, before the junction which leads to the castle of Rochegrès.

One will retain castle of Rochegrès the presence of a hollow head, carved in the stone and exceeding with the top of the door of beat principal, which, according to the oral tradition of the place, was used to move away the intruders, because it the night, producing seems was enlightened a seizing effect.

The inhabitants of Lacalm resisted vigorously English in XIVe century, but their resistance found his epilog in 1353 date on which the fort was burned and replaced later by a tower.

That which has an exerted eye will discover some vestiges of the ramparts of the fort close to the old presbytery, and will visit also the two laundrettes, carried out according to the traditional architecture of the place, i.e. out of granitic stone of size and with a covered sloping roof of gray roofing stones.

The church

The church of Lacalm is very old, with two very distinct parts, the church itself which are of Romance style , with an apse with full-clotheshanger, and the bell-tower which is square and without particular style. A plausible explanation would be that the principal tower of the fort of Lacalm has can be moved to be used at the same time as turn of guet and bell-tower, without drawing the attention of the English by the presence of a fortification.

The church of Lacalm, characteristic of the Romance style , contains a massive arc resting on two columns with full-swifter with capitals historiés representing of the combatants carrying an oval shield, which would locate its construction around the 11th century.

One will note also the presence of a splendid way of cross and that of the weapons of the Roland bugle.

The Roland bugle

Lacalm is the fatherland of the bugle Roland, hero of the battle of Sidi-Brahim in 1845. At the time of this battle it showed heroism because, whereas the enemy who had captured it asked him to sound the retirement to weaken moral his, it sounded the load.
In addition to its weapons, preserved, in the church, a statue is set up to him at the exit of the village, opposite the cemetery, on the road of Acute Heats. This bust is the work of the sculptor Eugene Arsal.

A tradition of expatriation

The men and the women of this corner of France do not look at with work, they are famous for their roughness and their courage with the work. As of before the XIXe century and at the beginning of the XXe century, to face poverty, much left to Paris where they often worked as coal merchant. Today still, much from cafés of the capital were born there (or then not well far).

One counts more inhabitants originating in this village living in Paris or elsewhere in the world that the population living all the year there. However, each one keeps for its roots an attachment without fault, even if the modern world always does not leave time to return there as often as it would be liked.

Economy of the village

It is mainly founded on the breeding with still some large farms of more than one hundred heads of bétail.
The number of trade fell much since time, year about fifty when one found more than ten coffees and two bakeries cooking the bread, whereas today only one grocer remains making bread deposit as two coffees where one can be also restored. One will note however the presence of the very famous Conquet butchery, whose origin is here, and who is also established with a factory and a shop in Laguiole.

The many coffees and hotels of the past were economically profitable especially thanks to the organized fairs every month and which attracted a whole world of maquignons, of course, but which was also occasions for all the inhabitants of the close villages and of the farms isolated to come to make some purchases near the open ones which held shop on all the sites available.

Camp-site the Mill ** Let us announce a natural surface of camp-site, small ground of 25 sites. It is located close to the brook Réols in bottom of the village, before the bridge on a way which brings back by a short cut towards the road of Holy Genevieve on Argence. Tel. 05 65 44 30 12, open: from the 15/06 to the 15/09.

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