Arudy

Arudy
Commune
A street in Arudy
Coat of arms
Location of Arudy
Arudy Show map of France Arudy Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 43°06′25″N 0°25′37″W / 43.1069°N 0.4269°W / 43.1069; -0.4269
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Canton	Oloron-Sainte-Marie-2
Intercommunality	CC Vallée Ossau
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Claude Aussant[1]
Area 1	28.23 km2 (10.90 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	2,248
• Density	80/km2 (210/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	64062 /64260
Elevation	310–1,446 m (1,017–4,744 ft) (avg. 400 m or 1,300 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Arudy (French pronunciation: [aʁydi]; Gascon: Arudi) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.

The commune has been awarded one flower by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom.^[3]

Geography[edit]

Arudy is located in the Ossau Valley on a bend on the Gave d'Ossau some 20 km south-east of Oloron-Sainte-Marie and 16 km south of Gan. Access to the commune is by the D920 road from Buzy in the north passing through the commune just west of the town and continuing to Louvie-Juzon in the south. Access to the town is by the D53 connecting to the D920. The D287 also goes east from the town to join the D934 going north to Sévignacq-Meyracq. The D918 branches west from the D920 near the town and continues west through the north of the commune to Lurbe-Saint-Christau.^[4]

The SNCF railway line from Buzy-en-Béarn - Laruns which passed through the commune was closed to traffic for passengers on 2 March 1969.^[5] A bus connection remained in place until 1 September 2009. Freight traffic between Buzy-en-Béarn and Arudy survived until 2003. The facilities have now been dismantled.

The western hills of the commune are heavily forested with farmland in the valleys. The east of the commune in the Ossau Valley is mainly residential with some farmland.

Hydrography[edit]

Located in the Drainage basin of the Adour, the Gave d'Ossau forms the eastern border as it curves around the town and continues west, forming the northern border of the commune, to join the Gave d'Aspe to form the Gave d'Oloron at Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Many tributaries rise in the south of the commune and flow north to join the Gave d'Ossau including the Lamisou, the Arrec de Baycabe, the Ruisseau du Bois de Nougué, the Arrec de Lacerbelle, and the Ruisseau du Termy which forms the western border of the commune.^[4]

Places and Hamlets[edit]

Neighbouring communes and villages[edit]

Toponymy[edit]

The commune name in béarnais is Arudi.

According to Michel Grosclaude the name comes from the basque harr ("stone" or "rock") and uri ("town").^[7]

The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.

Sources:

• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)^[6]
• Grosclaude: Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, 2006 (in French)^[7]
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750^[8]

Origins:

• Ossau: Titles of the Ossau Valley^[9]
• Pardies: Notaries of Pardies (Monein)^[10]
• Chéronnet: Bernard Chéronnet^[11]
• Luntz: Contracts retained by Luntz^[12]
• Reformation: Reformation of Béarn^[13]
• Insinuations: Insinuations of the Diocese of Oloron^[14]
• Census: Census of Béarn^[15]
• Marca: Pierre de Marca, History of Béarn.^[16]

History[edit]

The first traces of civilisation in the commune date to Prehistory or more precisely to the Magdalenian period. Excavations in four caves in the commune (Maladore, Poeymaü, Saint-Michel, and Espalungue) uncovered bones, tools, and many snail shells.

The village of Eruri or Aruri was mentioned at the beginning of the 13th century. It was from the beginning of that time that the Ossau Union was created which permitted relative independence for the communes in the valley until the French Revolution.

Paul Raymond noted on page 14 of his 1863 dictionary that the commune had a Lay Abbey, vassal of the Viscounts of Béarn, with 86 fires and depended on the bailiwick of Ossau.^[6]

It was in the 19th century that economic growth started in the commune. Sawmills and Marble quarries were created which provided a living to several hundred people. One quarry still operates today.

On 29 February 1980 Arudy was the epicentre of an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale and 7.5 on the MSK scale which damaged many buildings in the town.^{[citation needed]} The college had to be rebuilt.^{[citation needed]}

Heraldry[edit]

Blazon: Azure, a castle Argent of 3 towers turreted, masoned in sable and surmounted by a cow of Or horned.

Administration[edit]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2021)

List of Successive Mayors^[17]

Inter-communality[edit]

The commune is part of six inter-communal structures:

• the Communauté de communes de la Vallée d'Ossau;
• the local public management agency;
• the association for the perception of Arudy;
• the water association for the Ossau Valley;
• the electrification association for Bas-Ossau;
• the SIVU for sanitation for the Ossau Valley;

Demography[edit]

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Arudyens or Arudyennes in French.^[18]

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 1,767 —     1800 1,635 −1.10% 1806 1,745 +1.09% 1821 1,774 +0.11% 1831 1,863 +0.49% 1836 1,745 −1.30% 1841 1,971 +2.47% 1846 1,973 +0.02% 1851 2,026 +0.53% 1856 1,878 −1.51% 1861 1,930 +0.55% 1866 1,995 +0.66% 1872 1,978 −0.14% 1876 1,801 −2.32% 1881 2,027 +2.39% 1886 1,843 −1.89% 1891 1,816 −0.29% 1896 1,731 −0.95%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 1,710 −0.24% 1906 1,868 +1.78% 1911 1,897 +0.31% 1921 1,723 −0.96% 1926 1,786 +0.72% 1931 2,032 +2.61% 1936 1,930 −1.02% 1946 2,130 +0.99% 1954 2,112 −0.11% 1962 2,444 +1.84% 1968 2,874 +2.74% 1975 2,892 +0.09% 1982 2,705 −0.95% 1990 2,537 −0.80% 1999 2,234 −1.40% 2007 2,248 +0.08% 2012 2,185 −0.57% 2017 2,229 +0.40%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Source: EHESS[19] and INSEE[20]

Economy[edit]

Arudy has diverse economic activities:

• the commune has a large sheep breeding centre and strong activity related to hunting. Arudy forms part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone designation of Ossau-iraty;
• the commune conserves and operates marble (gray-black) and limestone quarry sites. The Church of St. Severus in Assat, for example, was built in 1873 with Arudy limestone;
• There are wood and marble working industries;
• the Messier industrial foundry, a subsidiary of Ventana Aerospace Group, employs approximately 200 people. The foundry produces alloys of magnesium-thorium intended for the aviation industry. The machining of these materials has resulted in the production of waste containing thorium. 13.3 tonnes of the residue of thorium-magnesium alloys (Grime from the foundry, shavings from machining, miscellaneous scrap, etc.) are stored in a special location with a radioactivity of 1.9 GBq from thorium-232.^[21] The company faces economic difficulties and has been placed in a Judicial Recovery procedure by the Commercial Court on the 1 April 2010. The Commercial Court of Pau approved exit from the Judicial recovery safeguard procedure proposed by management and the court administrators of the Messier foundry in July 2011. Messier Foundry is a prime contractor in the CARAIBE collaborative project approved by the Aerospace Valley Pôle de compétitivité group and funded by the Fonds unique interministériel (Single inter-ministerial funds) programme.

Culture and heritage[edit]

Civil heritage[edit]

The Hôtel Pouts (17th century) is registered as an historical monument.^[22] It is an ancient Lay Abbey which later became a police station. The building was renovated in 1971 to house a museum: the Maison d'Ossau.

The Maison d'Ossau museum in the Hôtel Pouts displays regional archaeological collections, specimens of flora and fauna of the Pyrenees, and local costumes.

Arudy has 16th and 17th century houses, a bridge said to be Roman, and Lavoirs (public laundries) from the 19th century.

Religious heritage[edit]

• 
  Chapel dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michel
• 
  Cross dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michel
• 
  Cliff above the Chapel Saint-Michel

The Church of Saint-Germain (12th century, renovated in the 19th century) contains several items classified as historical objects:

• A Statue: Saint Germain (17th century)^[23]
• A Painting: Saint Germain the Auxerrois at prayer (17th century)^[24]
• A Retable on the main altar (17th century)^[25]
• A Processional cross: Saint Lucie (18th century)^[26]
• A Paschal Candlestick (17th century)^[27]

The interior of the chapel of Saint-Michel is decorated with paintings by Pierre Martinez.

Environmental heritage[edit]

The Abétat peaks at 1204 metres, the Gerbadure at 1254m, the Soum Counée at 1361m, the Bersaut at 1368m, the Hourquettes de Baygrand at 1386m, the Senzouens (or the Breque) at 1392m, and the Pic d'Escurets at 1440m.^[28]

Amenities[edit]

Education[edit]

The town has a public college,^[29] and one primary school. Another private primary school has been closed since the beginning of September 2011.

Sports and sports facilities[edit]

• ES Arudy^[30] is a Rugby club which plays in Fédérale 3;
• TCO tennis club provides coaching by a qualified instructor. They have three tennis courts: one clay court and two fast courts;
• The Arudy rock-climbing school is one of the busiest in the region. It consists of three main areas with over a hundred climbing routes fitted out.

Notable people linked to the commune[edit]

• Jean Darriule, born on 16 November 1774 at Arudy, was a French Lieutenant-General. His name features on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
• Georges Penabert, born on 23 April 1825 at Arudy
• Édouard Piette, born in 1827, directed the Upper Paleolithic excavation site in Arudy.
• Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq, born on 25 April 1884 at Arudy, he was a road racing cyclist.
• Robert Barran, born on 13 January 1918 at Arudy, he was a Rugby league and Rugby union player.
• Georges Laplace, French anthropologist, born in 1918 and died in 2004 at Pau, in 1970 he founded the centre for stratigraphic Paleo-ethnology at Arudy.

Bibliography[edit]

• René Arripe, Ossau 1900: The Canton of Arudy, Loubatières, Toulouse, 1990 (in French)
• René Arripe, Ossau Valley 2000: The Canton of Arudy, R. Arripe, 2004, 782 pages

See also[edit]

• Ossau Valley
• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department
• Route nationale 618
• Col d'Aubisque

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Arudy on the 1750 Cassini Map

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arudy.