Isle, Haute-Vienne Département, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

🇫🇷 Isle is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in west-central France.

As of 2019, Isle is the fifth commune of the department (by population), after Limoges, Saint-Junien, Panazol and Couzeix.

History Isle was an ecclesiastical seigneury belonging to the bishops of Limoges. The castle of the bishops that was next to the church was demolished during the Revolution. The Limousin poet Jean Rebier "Major du Félibrige" (1879-1966) lived on his property in the hamlet of Mas de l'Aurence. The writer Robert Margerit (1910-1988) lived on Thias' property.

During the Revolution, the parish became a municipality. In 1792, it lost about a quarter of its area by the creation, in the part of its territory south of the Vienne, of the municipality of Bosmie-L'Aiguille.

The hamlet schools of Mas de l'Aurence (transferred from Mas des Landes) and Mérignac were closed in 1993.

From 1947 to 1953, the west of the municipality had a special deputy.

In 1979-1980, the JA Isle Football club reached the French 4th Division Championship, it rubbed shoulders with the big teams and then the great players Jean-Pierre Papin, Christophe Dugarry and Bixente Lizarazu walked the lawn of the Bayles stadium.

Geography: Location Isle a city of the Limoges urban unit, located on the right bank of the Vienne, opposite Condat-sur-Vienne, on the road to Périgueux. It is also the city in the department closest to Limoges. Thus, the distance from town hall to town hall as the crow flies is only 3.5 km (compared to 3.6 for Panazol).

Isle is located south-west of Limoges and extends from Limoges to Aixe-sur-Vienne, Condat-sur-Vienne and Verneuil-sur-Vienne.

Geography: Hydrography The municipality is also bordered by the Aurence, a tributary of the Vienne, which waters it to the north and west.

Typology Isle is an urban municipality, because it is part of the dense or intermediate density municipalities, within the meaning of the INSEE municipal density grid. It belongs to the Limoges urban unit, an intra-departmental agglomeration bringing together 10 municipalities and 187,364 inhabitants in 2017, of which it is a suburban municipality.

In addition, the municipality is part of the Limoges attraction area of which it is a municipality of the crown. This area, which includes 127 municipalities, is categorized in areas of 200,000 to less than 700,000 inhabitants.

Land use Map of the infrastructure and land use of the municipality in 2018 (CLC).

The land use of the municipality, as shown in the European biophysical land use database Corine Land Cover (CLC), is marked by the importance of agricultural territories (61.9% in 2018), nevertheless decreasing compared to 1990 (67.2%). The detailed distribution in 2018 is as follows: meadows (45.9%), urbanized areas (23.4%), heterogeneous agricultural areas (16%), forests (9.2%), continental waters (3.4%), industrial or commercial areas and communication networks (2%).

The IGN also provides an online tool to compare the evolution over time of land use in the municipality (or territories at different scales). Several eras are accessible in the form of maps or aerial photos: the Cassini map (18th century), the staff map (1820-1866) and the current period (1950 to today).

Places and monuments • Church of Saint Martin (13th century). The building was listed as a historical monument in 1985. • Bayles Castle and Park (property of the municipality) • Castle of Gigondas • Castles and manors of Reignefort, La Chabroulie, Le Gondeau, L'Etoile, Verthamont, Le Caillaud, Le Généty, Envaud, Le Val d'Enraud, Les Courrières.

Transport Many roads allow access to the municipality, including the RN 21 towards Périgueux from Limoges.

By bus, this municipality is served by lines 12 and 63 of the STCL network.