Audaux

Audaux
Commune
The Audaux Lavoir (Public laundry)
Location of Audaux
Audaux Show map of France Audaux Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 43°21′32″N 0°47′27″W / 43.3589°N 0.7908°W / 43.3589; -0.7908
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Canton	Le Cœur de Béarn
Intercommunality	CC Béarn des Gaves
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Kattalin Quentin[1]
Area 1	7.33 km2 (2.83 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	165
• Density	23/km2 (58/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	64075 /64190
Elevation	98–229 m (322–751 ft) (avg. 127 m or 417 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Audaux (French pronunciation: [odoks]; Occitan: Audaus) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.

Geography[edit]

Audaux is located some 18 km south of Orthez and 6 km north-west of Navarrenx. Access to the commune is by the D27 road from Bugnein in the south-east passing through the south of the commune and the village and continuing to Laàs in the west. The D427 branches off the D27 in the commune and goes to Castetbon in the north. The D947 highway passes through the north of the commune as it goes from Bastanès in the south-east to Orthez. Apart from the village there is the hamlet of Geup west of the village and Lacamoire in the north of the commune on the D947. The commune is mixed forest and farmland with most of the land area farmland.^[3]

The Gave d'Oloron forms all of the south-western border as it flows north-west to join the Gave de Pau forming the Gaves réunis at Peyrehorade. The Barthes forms the eastern border of the commune as it flows south to join the Gave d'Oloron. The Ruisseau de Labaigt flows south through the centre of the commune and through Geap to join the Gave d'Oloron. The Saleys river flows across the north of the commune from east to west and it continues north-west to join the Gave d'Oloron east of Saint-Pé-de-Léren.^[3]

Places and hamlets[edit]

^[5]

Neighbouring communes and villages[edit]

^[3]

Toponymy[edit]

The commune name in béarnais is Audaus. Michel Grosclaude proposed a possible etymology from an Aquitaine man's name Aldene with the suffix -os.^[6]

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

Sources:

• Grosclaude: Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, 2006 (in French)^[6]
• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)^[4]
• Cassini: Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Audaux, EHESS (in French).

Origins:

• Marca: Pierre de Marca, History of Béarn.^[7]
• Duchesne: Duchesne collection volume CXIV^[8]
• Insinuations: Insinuations of the Diocese of Oloron^[9]
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750^[10]
• Census: Census of Béarn^[11]
• Reformation: Reformation of Béarn^[12]
• Castetner: Notaries of Castetner^[13]
• Gassion: Enumeration of Gassion^[14]
• Camptort: Titles of Camptort^[15]
• Military: Military Inspection of Béarn^[16]
• Enumeration: Enumeration of Audaux^[14]

History[edit]

Paul Raymond noted on page 16 of his 1863 dictionary that in 1385 the commune depended on the bailiwick of Navarrenx and had 84 fires. Audaux was dependent of the Marquis of Gassion.^[4]

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 eight inter-communal structures:

• the Communauté de communes du Béarn des Gaves;
• the AEP association of Navarrenx;
• the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques;
• the association for promotion of Navarrenx;
• the association for schools in Gaveausset;
• the inter-communal association for sanitation Audaux - Bugnein 2 AB;
• the inter-communal association for the Gaves and the Saleys river;
• the joint oak forest association for the basque and bearnais valleys;

Demography[edit]

In 2017 the commune had 164 inhabitants.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 432 —     1800 331 −3.73% 1806 375 +2.10% 1821 370 −0.09% 1831 325 −1.29% 1836 332 +0.43% 1841 434 +5.50% 1846 454 +0.91% 1851 444 −0.44% 1856 457 +0.58% 1861 415 −1.91% 1866 401 −0.68% 1872 395 −0.25% 1876 382 −0.83% 1881 408 +1.33% 1886 420 +0.58% 1891 376 −2.19% 1896 372 −0.21%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 346 −1.44% 1906 322 −1.43% 1911 318 −0.25% 1921 305 −0.42% 1926 264 −2.85% 1931 257 −0.54% 1936 234 −1.86% 1946 295 +2.34% 1954 366 +2.73% 1962 244 −4.94% 1968 270 +1.70% 1975 264 −0.32% 1982 215 −2.89% 1990 203 −0.72% 1999 220 +0.90% 2007 192 −1.69% 2012 178 −1.50% 2017 164 −1.62%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Source: EHESS[18] and INSEE[19]

Audaux has a very high proportion of non-permanent population (e.g. pupils in boarding schools): 31% (73 of 237) as of 2017.^[20] This is due to the private boarding school of Sainte-Bernadette having 110 students boarding there.

Economy[edit]

Economic activity in the commune is mainly agricultural. The commune lies in the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and heritage[edit]

Since 1991 the village has held a rally of hot air balloons on the second weekend in July.

Civil heritage[edit]

The commune has one building that is registered as a historical monument:

• The Chateau of Audaux (1659).^[21] Since 1943 the chateau has belonged to the Foundation of Apprentices of Auteuil who have established a private scholastic institution called DSainte-Bernadette. Although it is a private castle, it can be visited with a historian guide during Heritage Day on the 2nd Sunday in September, on open days for the institution in late May, and during the "Castle Festival" in mid-July.

Facilities[edit]

Education[edit]

The commune has an elementary school as well as the private institution of Sainte-Bernadette which has a college, a professional school, and a masonry apprenticeship unit.^[22]

Notable people linked to the commune[edit]

• Isaac de Porthau, called Porthos, was a French military man born at Pau on 2 February 1617. He was the inspiration for Alexandre Dumas for the fictitious character Porthos in his novel The Three Musketeers. He came from a Béarnais Protestant family originally from Audaux.

See also[edit]

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

External links[edit]

• Audaux Commune website (in French)
• Audaux on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (in French)
• Audaux on the 1750 Cassini Map

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Audaux.