History
The name of our commune, Thiolieres, has its roots in Roman times and comes from a word meaning tilery (where tiles are made). The half round tiles are still evident on many of the local buildings and were shaped over the thigh from rectangular clay blanks. The shape of some tiles gives a clue as to the size of the thighs!
The name of our hamlet, La Visseyre, originates in the Occitaine dialect and means Coppice. An interesting little fact we discovered a year after moving from our UK home in “The Coppice”, spooky.
The image above is the Thiolieres postcard (there has only ever been one). The commune is now home to around 120 inhabitants but in its heyday there were nearly 500, supporting a boulangerie, cafe and school. After some years of post war decline, the attractive buildings and beautiful scenery are attracting people back to the area. However the many war memorials, found in almost every small hamlet, record the huge impact that the two World Wars had on French rural life.
