Bellac

Bellac rests in the high country northwest of Limoges, where the Vincou joins the Gartempe. The Monts de Blond rise immediately south of the town, giving the surrounding countryside a rolling profile of wooded heights and pasture. Roads from this crossroad lead through the wider Limousin toward Poitiers to the northwest and Angoulême to the southwest.

Those routes help explain the town’s role in a thinly settled inland region. Sheep raising and wool gave the Limousin economy a broad rural base, while the rivers supplied water and sites for mills and small workshops. Bellac’s old church, rebuilt between 1675 and 1710, stood at the centre of a community composed of the town and scattered hamlets such as Les Trois Coins and Le Val.