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Limeuil is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France.
Limeuil village is located at the confluence of the Dordogne and Vézère rivers. Historically this location at the meeting of the two major local rivers gave Limeuil immense importance - both commercially and strategically. In medieval times, the rivers were the highways of trade, and to be at the convergence of two of them was a unique advantage in the region: this was, historically, primarily a wine-producing area, much of the wine quite 'rough', but the casks of relatively better wine were delivered into the 'chais' at Limeuil, for subsequent delivery downstream to Bordeaux, on large, flat-bottomed 'gabarres'. The rivermen had to be accommodated here, and to this day the riverside bar/restaurant bears the name L'ancre de Salut - a boatsman's term meaning literally 'the safety anchor', a place where the rivermen could find food, wine, a bed, and rest, before their return up river.
The church at the top of the village is, significantly, named after Ste Catherine, who was the patron saint of boat people. Strategically, Limeuil consequently had to defend itself (and its inhabitants) from the relentless waves of territory-grabbing that arose from the Hundred Years' War, and the Wars of Religion - endless 'chevauchées' that would see the locality relentlessly under attack, for over two hundred years (the so-called Hundred Years' War lasted, in fact, for 116 years!) The hillside promontory on which the village is situated provides a natural defence - and was surmounted by a chateau, enclosed within its defensive circular stone walls.
Today this unique medieval village structure remains almost intact, and has now been almost completely restored, with great care, by successive property owners - substantially second-home buyers, and a handful of remaining old families. Unlike all too many French villages, Time has passed it by, leaving it without reconstruction or extension. When the river trade collapsed through the devastation of the vineyards caused by Phylloxera, and communication was overtaken, first by rough roads, and then in the last century by a network of trains, with the depopulation that followed the Second World War the village lost its purpose, and - apart from the agricultural work available to the families down on 'the plain' (the adjoining richly fertile river flood-plain) - the houses within the walled 'bourg' emptied, and consequently fell into dis-repair, even collapse. But the prehistoric stone of Périgord is indestructible. Three of the original four entrance gates into the defensively-walled village still stand; and beyond them you walk onto the river bank, or just out into green fields, as you would have done 800 years ago.
At some point the early wooden defensive stronghold was rebuilt in local stone, but little evidence of this chateau fortification survives within the walls of today's Parc du Chateau. Perhaps the most famous of the occupants of this chateau was Isabeau de Limeuil, the daughter of Gilles de la Tour, lord of Limeuil and Abbot of Vigeois (which is north-east of Excideuil). They were related to Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France, and Isabeau was a mistress of Louis I de Bourbon, and bore him children.
It is likely that this stone structure was demolished by the inhabitants themselves, sometime after 1453, as a clear demonstration that they had no wish to go on fighting these relentless defensive wars - as also happened with a number of other chateaux in the Périgord. Evidence of the truth of this theory can be seen in unexpected stone details set into some of the village houses; and two magnificent fireplaces bearing the Royal Coat of Arms, one in the Maison de la Justice in the upper village; and the other in the "Chais" restaurant down by the river. The castellated, rather Moorish-styled building that visitors to the Parc see today was constructed from remaining stones, by Dr. Fernand Linares, who was born in Limeuil in 1850; served the Sultan of Morocco, Mulay Hassan I, as his personal physician; and purchased the chateau parc for his retirement. Some 60 years after his death, the entire Parc was purchased by the villagers for €320,142. The building is now used for exhibitions and communal meetings; and the grounds are maintained and managed by a local 'patrimoine' conservation group, the Au Fil du Temps.
After the War, tourism steadily gathered pace. As the old river-related trades had already died away, the youth of the village were largely more interested in moving out to the greater opportunities in Bordeaux and other large cities, and by the end of the Second World War there were only about 40 houses still occupied in the village. But derelict houses were steadily bought, to be restored by French, Dutch, English, German, South African, and Australian second-home owners. The Municipal Council of the commune obtained grants and other support to improve and maintain the public areas and facilities. The bourg (original walled community) was accepted as a member of the prestigious (entirely non-governmental) organisation Les Plus Beaux Villages de France and restaurants and artisans returned to service the needs of a growing flow of tourists - estimated in 2016 at about 100,000 visitors. The original village (of barely 30 permanent, year-round, residents now) has to endure all the inconvenience - as well as some benefits - of this mass inflow.
Many events are organised with the tourist visitor in mind - a weekly marché nocturne (an open-air meal, with entertainment, bought from an array of stalls cooking a wide variety of food) during the summer, in the Place du Port down alongside the river; art exhibitions in the Chateau Parc; a small weekly market; an immense Pottery Fair, one of the largest in France; a similarly large antique and bric'a'brac fair; to join the regular artisans - a glassblower, a potter, and a micro-brewery ('brasserie') - as well as local canoeing, horseriding, football, and pétanque.
The Jardins Panoramiques de Limeuil, is botanical garden located in Limeuil.
The garden was created in the 19th century by Doctor Linares. In 2004, the Au Fil du Temps association and the city of Limeuil restored it and opened it to the public.