VILLENEUVE-SUR-LOT, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Lot-et Garonne, 22 m. N. by E. of Agen on a branch line of the Orleans railway. Pop. (1931) 7,199. Villeneuve was founded in by Alphonse, count of Poitiers, brother of Louis IX., on the site of the town of Gajac, which had been deserted during the Albi gensian crusade.
The river Lot divides the town into two parts. The chief quar ter stands on the right bank and is united to that on the left bank by a 13th century bridge. On the left bank portions of the 13th century ramparts, altered and surmounted by machicolations in the 15th century, remain, and high square towers rise above the gates to the north-east, the Porte de Paris, and south-west, the Porte de Pujols. Arcades of the 13th century surround the Place
La Fayette, and there are old houses of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries in various parts of the town. On the left bank of the Lot, 2 M. S.S.W. of Villeneuve, are the 13th-century walls of Pujols. The buildings of the ancient abbey of Eysses, about a mile to the N.E., mainly 17th century, remain. Villeneuve has a sub-prefecture and a tribunal of commerce. It is an important agricultural centre and has a very large trade in plums (prunes d'ente) and in the produce of the market gardens which surround it, as well as in cattle, horses and wine. The preparation of pre served plums and the tinning of peas and beans occupy many hands; there are also manufactures of shoes and tin boxes.