Abidos, Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Abidos
Coat of arms
Abidos
Location within Aquitaine region  Abidos
Coordinates: 43°23′59″N 0°37′23″W / 43.3997°N 0.6231°WCoordinates: 43°23′59″N 0°37′23″W / 43.3997°N 0.6231°W
Country	France
Region	Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Pau
Canton	Lagor
Intercommunality	Lacq
Government
• Mayor (2014–2020)	Jean-Claude Mirassou
Area^1	3.06 km^2 (1.18 sq mi)
Population (2009)^2	233
• Density	76/km^2 (200/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	64003 / 64150
Elevation	86–170 m (282–558 ft) (avg. 95 m or 312 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. ^2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Abidos is a French commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes region in southwestern France.

Geography

Abidos is a Béarnais commune located some 13 km south-east of Orthez and 4 km north of Mourenx on the south side of the Gave de Pau. Access to the commune is by the D31 road from Le Bourguet in the north turning west in the commune to access the village and continuing southwest to join the D9. The D33 road from Noguères in the southeast passes through the commune east of the village and joins the D31 as it turns west. The commune has an industrial area in the southwest with the rest of the commune mainly farmland.^[1]

The Gave de Pau forms the north-eastern border of the commune and also passes through the northern corner of the commune as it flows north-west to join the Gave d'Oloron at Peyrehorade. The Baïse river flows through the centre of the commune from the southeast and joins the Gave de Pau in the commune. The Luzoué also flows from the southeast through the west of the commune to join the Gave de Pau.^[1]

Places and hamlets^[2]

• Bastia
• Bernacheyre
• Chalosse
• Joanlong
• Pleasure
• Us

Neighbouring communes and villages^[1]

Toponymy

The name Abidos appears in the forms:

• Avitos in the 11th century,^[3] Pierre de Marca^[4] and around 1100^[5] and in the Cartulary of the Abbey of Lucq.^[6]
• Avitoss was another form around 1100,^[5] Cartulary of the Abbey of Lucq-de-Béarn.^[6] *Avezos also appeared around 1100^[5] in the Cartulary of the Abbey of Lucq-de-Béarn^[6]
• Avidoos in the 13th century^[3] in the Fors de Béarn^[7]
• Sent-Sadarnii of Abidos in 1344^[3] Notaries of Pardies^[8]
• Bidos and Bydos in 1548,^[3] Reformation of Béarn^[9]
• Abidos on the Cassini Map of 1750^[5][10]

Michel Grosclaude offers a Latin etymology of Avitus plus the Aquitaine suffix -ossum "domain of Avitus".

Its name in Béarnais is Avidos (according to the classical norm).

History

Paul Raymond^[3] notes that in 1385, Abidos had 18 fires and depended on the bailiwicks of Lagor and Pardies. Abidos had a castle with an attached door across the Pau river.

Heraldry

Blazon: Azure, the crested osprey in argent beaked and membered in gules, perched on a bone of death also argent posed in fess.

Administration

Abidos Town Hall

List of Successive Mayors of Abidos

From	To	Name	Party	Position
1968	2008	Léon Guilhamélou-Sempé	UMP
2008	2020	Jean-Claude Mirassou

(Not all data is known)

Inter-communality

Abidos is a member of seven inter-communal organisations:^[11]

• the community of communes of Lacq
• SIVU for the development and management of the river basin of Baïses
• AEP union for water and Baise;
• sanitation union of the communes of the Juscle and Baise valleys
• Energy Union of Pyrenees-Atlantiques
• Intercommunal Union for defence against floods of the Gave de Pau
• Intercommunal Union for educational regrouping in the communes of Os-Marsillon and Abidos.

Demography

In 2010 the commune had 236 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the population censuses conducted in the town since 1793. From the 21st century a census of municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger towns that have a sample survey every year.^{[Note 1] [Note 2]}

Population Change (See database)

1793	1800	1806	1821	1831	1836	1841	1846	1851
225	230	203	241	238	229	207	222	222

1856	1861	1866	1872	1876	1881	1886	1891	1896
237	216	227	208	229	204	212	182	186

1901	1906	1911	1921	1926	1931	1936	1946	1954
184	190	183	170	162	149	149	109	147

1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006	2007	2008
255	226	184	187	188	200	226	230	233

2009	2010	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
233	236	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1962, INSEE database from 1968 (population without double counting and municipal population from 2006)

Economy

The 2006 classification by INSEE, indicated that the median household incomes for each municipality with more than 50 households (30,687 communes out of the 36,681 communes identified)^[12] classed Abidos to rank at No. 10,338, with an average income of €17,174.

The town is part of the zone designation of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and heritage

Abidos Church

Front of the Church

Religious Heritage

There is an old chapel at Abidos castle.

Environmental heritage

An arboretum created by the community of communes of Lacq and the Abengoa BioEnergy France company, is located behind the village hall.

Also found in Abydos, a mill with its canal. The path of Naöu means an unencumbered way along the Pau river (phonetic transcription of nau is bateau in Béarnais).

Facilities

Education

The commune has a school with two classrooms for primary school, a school canteen, and a library.

Sports and sports equipment

The town has a sports field in the centre with a football field, basketball court, volleyball court, and tennis courts. There is also a sports hall equipped for basketball, tennis and Basque pelota. Lastly there is a roller skate park for BMX edge of the Baise.

Notable People linked to the commune

• Raoul Vergez was born in Abidos on 3 August 1908 and died in Senlis (Oise) on 7 July 1977. He was a "companion carpenter",^{[Note 3]} writer and journalist. Known by the name of "Béarnais, the friend of the Tour de France", he left an important mark on the work of the Companions in France. He reported from the United States during a trip in 1952, some special techniques for companion carpenters.

See also

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

External links=

• Abidos on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (French)
• Abidos on the 1750 Cassini Map
• Abidos on the INSEE website (French)
• INSEE (French)

Notes and references

Notes

1. At the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of identification have been modified by law No. 2002-276 of 27 February 2002 , the so-called "law of local democracy" and in particular Title V "census operations" which allow, after a transitional period running from 2004 to 2008, the annual publication of the legal population of the different French administrative districts. For municipalities with a population greater than 10,000 inhabitants, a sample survey is conducted annually, the entire territory of these municipalities is taken into account at the end of the period of five years. The first "legal population" after 1999 under this new law came into force on 1 January 2009 and was based on the census of 2006.
2. In the census table and the graph, by convention in Wikipedia, and to allow a fair comparison between five yearly censuses, the principle has been retained for subsequent legal populations since 1999 displayed in the census table and the graph that shows populations for the years 2006, 2011, 2016, etc.. , as well as the latest legal population published by INSEE
3. See "Compagnonnage" in the French Wikipedia

References

1. Google Maps
2. Géoportail, IGN, (French)
3. Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011, p. 2 (French)
4. Pierre de Marca, History of Béarn (French)
5. Michel Grosclaude, Topnymical Dictionary of communes, Béarn, Ed. Edicions reclams & Édition Cairn - 2006, ISBN 2-35068-005-3, p. 120-121
6. Cartulary of the Abbey of Lucq, Pierre de Marca, History of Béarn (French)
7. Manuscript of the 14th century - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (French)
8. Notaries of Pardies - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (French)
9. Manuscript of the 16th to the 18th centuries - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (French)
10. Cassini Map 1750 - Abidos
11. Intercommunality of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Cellule informatique préfecture 64, consulted on 9 November 2011
12. Statistical Summary by Commune, département, and area of employment, website of INSEE, consulted on 9 September 2009