The Troglodyte Cave fell into disrepair and was raided for its stone blocks in the 18 th century. The access to the village from opposite ends of town were also narrow enough to be defended by relatively small numbers of archers. It provided protection for the people of the village throughout the wars of Middle Ages attacks from above the cliff and from the river being easy to defend with arrows and other projectiles. This series of caves in the cliff face was developed back in the twelfth century and continued to be fortified up to the 17 th century. Perhaps the site that is the most prominent in La Roque-Gageac’s history is the Troglodyte fort up in the cliff face. The map below gives you some suggestions as to the key sites to visit while in town. The first stage of such a visit would be to wander the riverfront first and then wander up into the limited back streets. When visiting La Roque Gageac, there are two approaches to appreciating this hemmed in village between river and cliff face. The image above sets out clearly the geographical characteristics of La Roque that has governed its history for the last 1200 years. They simply retreated to their well defended ‘Troglodyte’ cavern up in the cliff face which protected its citizens from these northern warriors who had started to settle in today’s Normandy. Whilst there is evidence of pre-history sites around La Roque, it first appears in the historical record in the ninth century, just in time to receive Viking marauders in long ships coming up the Dordogne River. La Roque didn’t have the population for a castle and needed open access to the river so they used their natural assets for protection during troubled times their cliff face. The other towns mentioned built castles or, as in the case of Domme, built walls around their town. Like these other river towns, La Roque Gageac needed protection from marauders coming up the river from the coast. Like them it sits on a meander of the river with a mountain’s sheer cliff protecting it from the north-east. It is about 10 Kms from Sarlat but it is not far up the river from the other famous river towns such as Beynac, Castelnaud and Domme. I am sure there are reasons for this limited acknowledgement but it is no reflection on this ancient and gorgeous place on the Dordogne River in Nouvelle Aquitaine in southwestern France. For a village that is amongst the top tourist sites in France and on the list of the association of the most beautiful villages in France, La Roque Gageac only gets two sentences on the website, Wikipedia.
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