Ouzouer-le-Marché

The château in Ouzouer-le-Marché

Coat of arms

Ouzouer-le-Marché

Location within Centre-Val de Loire region

Ouzouer-le-Marché

Coordinates: 47°54′43″N 1°31′42″E / 47.9119°N 1.5283°ECoordinates: 47°54′43″N 1°31′42″E / 47.9119°N 1.5283°E

Country

La Beauce (chef-lieu)

Intercommunality

Communauté de communes de la Beauce oratorienne

Government

• Mayor (2008–2013)

Jean-Yves Gasnier

Area¹

28.10 km² (10.85 sq mi)

Population (2012)²

1,983

• Density

71/km² (180/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

INSEE/Postal code

41173 /41240

Elevation

118–136 m (387–446 ft)
(avg. 127 m or 417 ft)

Website

http://www.ouzouerlemarche.fr/

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

²Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Ouzouer-le-Marché is a former commune in the Loir-et-Cher department in north-central France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Beauce-la-Romaine. Ouzouer le Marché is a dynamic rural town of nearly 2,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the canton of La Beauce and of the Communauté de communes of la Beauce oratorienne.

There are several hypothesis of Ouzouer-le-Marché origins.

First hypothesis: Formerly in the Bronze Age, the town was called because of the swamps: Ouzouer le Marais. To pass these swamps, it was necessary to check uncouple the wagons where the market name to the wheels. According to historians, this marsh gave birth to a stream that flowed into the Loire by mauves, which seems unlikely today, the natural inclination is more towards water Tripleville.

Second hypothesis: In old registry, there are different spellings of the name: Ozoir, Auzoir, Auzouert and Ouzouer, this would be a Celtic name which would mean swamp. Indeed in 1850, instead of the church and the current location of the local school and the castle square, deep trenches connected one to another. The village is now between similar trenches, some to the north called the channel, the other south. The ground is so abundant with water over a clay layer that it doesn't allow to hollow caves, while in other parts you need to go down 80 feet for clean water.

Third hypothesis: Another version says that Ouzouer means Oratorium and is given to a large number of cities that has Saint Martin as patron, so Ouzouer-le-Marché, Ouzouer le Doyer, Ouzouer le Breuil et Ouzouer sur Loire have all Saint Martin as patron.

No document can date precisely the construction of the castle of Ouzouer le Marché. It was probably built in the fifteenth century, at the time of Orval Seignerie already possessed Seignerie Ouzouer in 1460. The Orval are the oldest lords of Ouzouer le Marché, they were the longest lords.

This cross marks the site of an ancient cemetery. It is thought that there was a chapel or a wooden chapel around the cemetery. The oratory was replaced by a wooden cross towards the end of the fifteenth century by the current cross, probably by the monks of St Mesmin who owned several farms in the village.

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Wikipedia