Tournon

TOURNON, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Ardeche, on the right bank of the Rhone, 58 m. S. of Lyons by rail. Pop. (1906), town, 3642; commune, 5003. Tournon preserves a gateway of the 15th century and other remains of fortifications and an old castle used as town hall, court-house and prison and containing a Gothic chapel. The church of St Julian dates chiefly from the I4th century. The lycee occupies an old college founded in the i6th century by Cardinal Francois de Tournon. Of the two suspension bridges which unite the town with Tain on the left bank of the river, one was built in 1825 and is the oldest in France. A statue to General Rampon (d. 1843} stands in the Place Carnot. Wood-sawing, silk-spinning, and the manufacture of chemical manures, silk goods and hosiery are carried on in the town, which has trade in the wine of the Rhone hills. Tournon had its own counts as early as the reign of Louis I. In the middle of the i7th century the title passed from them to the dukes of Ventadour.