La Reole
LA REOLE, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Gironde, on the right bank of the Gironde, 38 m. S.E. of Bordeaux by rail. Pop. (1906) 3469. La Reole grew up round a monastery founded in the 7th or 8th century, which was reformed in the 11th century and took the name of Regula, whence that of the town. A church of the end of the 12th century and some of the buildings (iSth century) are left. There is also a town hall of the 12th and 14th centuries. The town fortifications were dismantled by order of Richelieu, but remains dating from the 12th and 14th centuries are to be seen, as well as a ruined chateau built by Henry II. of England. La Reole has a sub-prefecture, a tribunal of first instance, a communal college and an agricultural school. The town is the centre of the district in which the well-known breed of Bazadais cattle is reared. It is an agricultural market and carries on trade in the wine of the region together with liqueur distillery and the manufacture of casks, rope, brooms, etc.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
