Ablaincourt-Pressoir

Ablaincourt-Pressoir
Ablaincourt-Pressoir
Location within Picardy region Ablaincourt-Pressoir
Coordinates: 49°50′26″N 2°49′23″E / 49.8406°N 2.8231°E / 49.8406; 2.8231Coordinates: 49°50′26″N 2°49′23″E / 49.8406°N 2.8231°E / 49.8406; 2.8231
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie
Department	Somme
Arrondissement	Péronne
Canton	Chaulnes
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes de Haute Picardie
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	Didier Leturcq
Area¹	9.46 km² (3.65 sq mi)
Population (2010)²	265
• Density	28/km² (73/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	80002 / 80320
Elevation	67–88 m (220–289 ft) (avg. 83 m or 272 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.

Ablaincourt-Pressoir is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.

The two villages were formerly separately administered, but were joined in 1966.

Geography

Ablaincourt-Pressoir is found in the Santerre sub-region, where early French Kings made their base, at Noyon.
The town is in a strategic position close to the intersections of the A1 Paris-Lille autoroute and the A29 autoroute between Amiens and Saint-Quentin. Two departmental roads meet nearby (the D150 and the D164). The town also an international TGV rail station, the Gare TGV Haute-Picardie, nicknamed "The sugar-beet station" named after the predominant crop of the area.

Etymology; Ancient forms of the names

Ablaincourt

Abatix Curtis, Habelini Curtis (1046), Ablani Curtis, Ableni Curia (1106), Abbecourt (1144), Abiaucourt (1215), Ablaincort (1230), Ablincourt (1733) and finally, Ablaincourt, which signifies an abbey.

Pressoir

Pressurs or Drêsur (1180).

History

Ablaincourt

In 1215, Jean I de Nesle built a castle here. Remains of the motte can still be seen, which marks out the position of the keep.

In 1648, possession of the fiefdom of Ablaincourt passed from the Blattepière family to the Mathieu family.

During World War I Ablaincourt et Pressoir were at the centre of the Battle of the Somme. Both communes were totally ruined by the fighting.

Demographics

1851 Census

The 2 communes were still separate.

Ablaincourt = Population : 445 inhabitants

Pressoir = Population : 144 inhabitants

1896 Census

The 2 communes were still separate.

Ablaincourt = Population : 312 inhabitants

Pressoir = Population : 106 inhabitants

Historical population of Ablaincourt-Pressoir
Year	1851	1896	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006
Population	589	418	193	224	194	185	206	227	267
From the year 1962 on: No double counting—residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) are counted only once.

People

Eloi Driencourt, born in the hamlet of Bovent, Ablaincourt, doctor of the Sorbonne and for a while, advisor to Louis XV's queen, Maria Leszczyńska (1703–1768),
Ludovic Hulin was elected in March 1995 and became the youngest mayor of Ablaincourt-Pressoir, at the age of 28.
Reinhard Johannes Sorge, a German Roman Catholic poet and dramatist, died at a First Aid post located at the ruins of Ablaincourt-Pressoir on 20 July 1916. Sorge had been wounded by a hand grenade during the Battle of the Somme.

References

INSEE

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ablaincourt-Pressoir.

Communes of the Somme department

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