Villerest

Villerest
Commune
Coat of arms
Location of Villerest
Villerest Show map of France Villerest Show map of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Coordinates: 45°59′39″N 4°02′14″E
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Loire
Arrondissement	Roanne
Canton	Roanne-2
Intercommunality	Roannais Agglomération
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Philippe Perron[1]
Area ^1	14.82 km^2 (5.72 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	5,170
• Density	350/km^2 (900/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	42332 /42300
Elevation	261–426 m (856–1,398 ft) (avg. 360 m or 1,180 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Villerest (French pronunciation: [vilʁɛ]; Arpitan: Vilarês) is a commune in the Loire department in central France. It is a Medieval-era commune located just south of the city of Roanne. The village is bordered by the river Loire.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 950 —     1800 435 −10.56% 1806 546 +3.86% 1821 587 +0.48% 1831 964 +5.09% 1836 1,030 +1.33% 1841 976 −1.07% 1846 1,006 +0.61% 1851 1,031 +0.49% 1856 1,130 +1.85% 1861 1,211 +1.39% 1866 1,208 −0.05% 1872 1,207 −0.01% 1876 1,227 +0.41% 1881 1,230 +0.05% 1886 1,281 +0.82% 1891 1,270 −0.17% 1896 1,218 −0.83%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 1,204 −0.23% 1906 1,201 −0.05% 1911 1,149 −0.88% 1921 976 −1.62% 1926 1,034 +1.16% 1931 1,127 +1.74% 1936 1,076 −0.92% 1946 1,039 −0.35% 1954 1,286 +2.70% 1962 1,524 +2.15% 1968 1,743 +2.26% 1975 2,239 +3.64% 1982 2,928 +3.91% 1990 4,104 +4.31% 1999 4,243 +0.37% 2007 4,414 +0.50% 2012 4,696 +1.25% 2017 4,902 +0.86%
Source: EHESS[3] and INSEE (1968-2017)[4]

Sights

• Le Barrage de Villerest, a hydroelectric dam that also prevents flooding along the Loire. This dam also creates a reservoir, the Lac de Villerest.
• The village itself contains many buildings from the Middle Ages.^[5] These include numerous houses, and the Eglise de Saint-Priest. Maybe most famous from this time period are the ramparts that are still mostly intact today.

International relations

Villerest is twinned with:

• Piatra Neamţ, Romania^[6] and Storrington, West Sussex, England.^[7]

See also

• Communes of the Loire department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
2. "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Villerest, EHESS (in French).
4. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
5. Technologies, e-Obs. "Villerest - Station Verte".
6. "Piatra Neamţ - Twin Towns". © 2007-2008 piatra-neamt.net. Archived from the original on 16 November 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
7. "Geograph:: Twinning plaque in Storrington village... (C) Basher Eyre".