Friday, August 07, 2009

Les Toits De Saint-Aignan

Rooftops. St.-Aignan's topography allows us to get up above the center and gaze down on the town's rooftops. This is best done up at the château, naturally built on the highest point above the river.

Mostly slate rooftops in this view.

The roofing materials are a pretty even mix between ardoise (slate) and tuiles (terra cotta tiles). Many roofs in the north of France (especially in the cities) are made of slate. If you've been to Paris, or Bretagne, you will have noticed that most of the roofs are dark and shiny; they're made with slate.

More terra cotta roof tiles in this view.

In the south of France, more of the roofs are made from terra cotta tiles in one shape or another. They're mostly red-orange in color, but can vary from dark to light, and with age can attain a certain patina, especially in damper climates like ours.

View of the rooftops seen from the château's courtyard.

Here, in St.-Aignan and throughout the central region, we're in the place where these different roof styles mix pretty evenly. The northern slate begins to give way to the southern tile, and both styles are on view in the towns around here. Our house has a tile roof, but it's flat tile, not the undulating kind more commonly found in the south.

9 comments:

  1. Off Topic...Hey Walt, are you still researching the "red" beer mystery? I know that it can take quite a long time to do a proper job, but...

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  2. Good question, Bill!

    I really like the roof top photos :)

    Judy

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  3. I'm thoroughly enjoying the birds-eye views. Your knowledge of roofing materials in the regions of France is impressive!

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  5. Rooftop views are fascinating, almost addictive. Makes clambering up to any château worthwhile, the opportunity to look down on all that activity. Great photos, some of the best so far in the St Aignan series !!!

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  6. Until now, your photographs have been of vistas vastly different from where I live but the roof top images in this post are somewhat similar to my memories of the inner suburbs of the Sydney of my childhood.

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  7. bill, actually, I have yet to begin. I need volunteer test subjects.

    judy, thanks.

    ginny, just observation. I'm no expert!

    jean, merci!

    victor, that's interesting - they use (or used) tile in Sydney?

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  8. Yes, the joke was you knew you were home when flying into Sydney you saw the sea of red roof tiles.

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  9. You have very good observation, WCS. Those rooftops are more beautiful when seen over Google Earth. But hey, these wonders remind me of the movie The Three Musketeers in 3D. The setting and the scenes are really fantastic, especially the sword fight over the church tops. And I must agree that the roof tops are generally colored orange and blue.

    Richard Boles

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