Last modified: 2020-08-02 by ivan sache
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Flag of Port-des-Barques - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 13 April 2020
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The municipality of Port-des-Barques (1,777 inhabitants in 2017; 566 ha) is located on the left bank of the estuary of the Charente, about 15 km downstream from Rochefort, opposite the Fouras peninsula located on the right bank. Port-des-Barques is a maritime town bathed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and a family seaside resort on the Charente coast with its long sandy beach.
The municipality was established on 19 September 1947 by detachment from the municipality of Saint-Nazaire-sur-Charente.
Saint-Nazaire was part of the seigniory of Soubise, whose most important lords were the Parthenay-Larchevêque in the Middle Ages, then the Rohan-Soubise from 1575.
La Fayette sailed in 1780 from Port-des-Barques aboard the frigate Hermione to the Americas; a small stele commemorating this event can be seen on the port.
Port-des-Barques includes Île Madame (Madame Island; 78 ha, unpopulated), to which it is connected at low water by a sand and pebble path (a tombolo) called La Passe aux Bœufs. It could take its name either from Anne de Rohan-Chabot, mistress of Louis XIV, or from the abbess of the Abbaye aux Dames of Saintes, who bore the title of "Madame de Saintes".
Hundreds of Catholic priests were held prisoner on the island during anti-clerical persecution in 1794. A total of 254 died before the survivors were allowed to leave. The priests are commemorated during a pilgrimage held each August.
Olivier Touzeau, 13 April 2020
The flag of Port-des-Barques (photo,
photo) is blue with the municipal coat of arms, surrounded in chief by "PORT-DES-BARQUES" and in base by "ÎLE-MADAME" and four marine rods.
The coat of arms includes on a field gules three golden mascles in chief, recalling the Rohan family, and a boat taken from an ancien seal from La Rochelle. On this drawing, the keel of the boat was broken. Since it was impossible to know if it should have been flat or swollen, the boat is repesented sailing on the sea so that the keel could not be seen; it was decided to color the sea in green, as a color symbolizing luck.
[Municipal website]
Olivier Touzeau, 13 April 2020