The origin of the name of Landepereuse is easy to find. It derives of the Norman way to pronounce "lande pierreuse". The word "lande" comes from Gallic and indicates a dry ground where just few plants grow. Stony is due to the abundance and the size of the stones, sometimes multi metric that are presents in abundance. So this commune did not have been a paradise for the first inhabitants: it was probably difficult to clear and to cultivate at this time when tractors did not exist and metal or iron tools were expensive and rare.
Geography
Landepéreuse is a small rural village of Pays d'Ouche located in the south western Eure, in Normandy. Its surface is 892 ha. With uneven maximum of 48 m, this commune slightly undulating, is representative of the territories of Pays d'Ouche who announce already the hills of the Perche country in the south and the Pays d'Auge to a few kilometres in the West. It is constituted of fields, pastures, orchards and woods. These are sometimes separated by hedges, in which the principal species are: Hawthorn, the blackthorn. The territory of the commune is crossed by two dry valleys.
Regularly, each year, during strong rain, these two valleys run during few hours to few days. During the important wet episodein the beginning of 2001, those more in the east ran during a few months.
Geology
The geological basement of the commun consists of the geological strates commonly encountered in the Paris Bassin from the latter primary to the Holocene. Only rare rocks and formations are, or have been accessible to humans. The oldest are of upper Cretaceous. They are formed of marly chalkexploited formerly in underground quarries, for a long time abandoned. We can see in the landscape, the old fallen down wells access and the cave-in, locally known as bétous : . On the surface, we see in abundance in some areas of the commune sandstones of Cenozoic age. They can grow to a plurimetric size. No fossil have been observed. So their age may not be precisely specified. For some authors their appear to be sandstones of Paleocene age, such as those visible at the top of the surrounding chalk cliffs of Dieppe or the Tréport and nearly of Bosc Renoult for example. For another, their appear to be sandstone of Oligocène age, such as those well known of the Fontainebleau forest to the South of Paris or Séran mound in the French Vexin. From a scientific study, many thin blades have been cut to try to remove this ambiguity. They have only shown one cristallizedcharophyteoogone not datable.
Around valleys we can observe heterogeneous rocks, heterometric, relatively well rolled. This geological set reminds alluvium, inheritance of the passed valleys activity, with a relatively high current speed .
The other parts of the commune is coated with limon, not very thick compared to that we can encounter in the Lieuvin or in the Campagne d'Evreux. This layer provides a fertility relative to the ground of the commune.
Because of the sandstone and cailloutis abundance, Landepereuse would not have been a paradise for its first inhabitants: it was probably difficult to clear and cultivate its ground at a time when tractors didn't exist and iron or at least metal tools were rare or expensive. By the finness of the limon, this commune was, before the advent of organic fertilizers, a land of extensive farms and survival food. Therefore, geology is the origin of the landscape of this typical bocaged village of the Pays d'Ouche. Limons, here of brown color, decalcified and clay concentrated by the paedogenesis could however be used in this commune for bricks manufacture.
