La Roque-Sainte-Marguerite is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France.

Lying deep in the scenic Dourbie gorge (the Dourbie is a tributary of the (Tarn), the commune absorbed the formerly separate commune of St Verin in 1940, and it also incorporates the village of Pierrefiche du Larzac, which lies much higher on the Causse du Larzac (Larzac Plateau), at about 670 metres above sea level.

The village lies about 15 km (9.3 mi) east of Millau. The main industry for the residents who still work locally is tourism: the most visited site in Aveyron for tourists, Le Chaos de Montpellier-le-Vieux, is within its bounds. But most working residents commute into Millau.

On the Causse du Larzac, the villagers of Pierrefiche were shepherds, bringing their ewes' milk to the village dairy to make Roquefort cheese. Until recently there were two flocks of 50 & 200 ewes. The droughts of 2004 have reduced this to one. The sheepskins & fleeces went to Millau for the glove industry.

The castle was the western defence of the formerly heavily guarded Dourbie valley, which was a rich agricultural area in the Middle Ages. Old vine terraces can still be seen lining the deep chasm cut by the river through the Causse plateaux, some 300 m deep.

Nearby sights include:

• The mill of Corp, called Moulin du Corp in 1840, is located on the right bank of the Dourbie, at the foot of the Causse Noir, about 1.5 km from the village, on the right bank of the Dourbie. The name Corp derived from Corbiéres, root Kor-b which would have telescoped with corvus would mean: raven, and by extension, place where crows gather. Crow colonies love rocky heights, and should we add rivers. I was able to note during previous searches other equivalent names such as: the river of Corps in the Aube (10 440), Corps, chief town of canton in the Isère. According to Jacques Astor, the Corp mill seems to owe its name to a large rock. Another possible explanation and in my eyes more likely: the name would come from Gourg: gourc (Gourgá: to form a chasm, a small chasm, speaking of water, a stream, etc.). Mentioned for the first time in 1308 "Ricard de Montméjean pays tribute to the Viscount of Creissels from a shore called Corp", this mill was used for centuries to grind grain to make flour to all the peasants of the Causse Noir and the Causse du Larzac who descended to get there by mule tracks through the mountain. The lords of Montméjean demanded that the peasants of their mandement on which Saint-André depended go to Corp where they collected a right of banality. In 1851, the mill was equipped with two pairs of grinding wheels, and worked 360 hectoliters of wheat per year. To access from one bank to the other, an old bridge of the ninth century spans the Dourbie, its construction is all tuff and very solid. It is leaning against the mountain on the Larzac side and on tuff rocks on the mill side.
• The Chaos de Montpellier-le-Vieux is a 120-hectare (297-acre) blockfield at the southern edge of the Causse Noir, above the Gorges de la Dourbie, north-east of Millau and its famous viaduct, in the commune of La Roque-Sainte-Marguerite. The rocks consist of dolomite. The chaos of Montpellier le Vieux can be visited on foot on well-marked trails at middle of Scots pines and oaks. The Petit Train Vert also takes you without Effort in the very heart of this grandiose site.

Feel free to Email me any additions or corrections

LINKS AVAILABLE TO YOUR SITE