Auriac, Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Auriac
Commune
Bearnais house in Auriac
Location of Auriac
Auriac Show map of France Auriac Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 43°27′23″N 0°18′53″W
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Pau
Canton	Terres des Luys et Coteaux du Vic-Bilh
Intercommunality	CC Luys Béarn
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Jean-Claude Vignes[1]
Area ^1	5.23 km^2 (2.02 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	221
• Density	42/km^2 (110/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	64078 /64450
Elevation	145–250 m (476–820 ft) (avg. 242 m or 794 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Auriac (French pronunciation: [oʁjak] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.

Geography

Auriac is located some 20 km north of Pau just east of Argelos. Access to the commune is by road D834 from Sarron in the north which passes through the commune and continues to Pau in the south. Access to the village is by road D944 from the village to Thèze in the north-west and the D227 from the village to Sévignacq in the south-east. The A55 autoroute passes through the north of the commune with Exit 9 just north-east of the commune giving access to road D834. The commune is mixed forest and farmland.^[3]

Places and hamlets

• Alpin
• Baix
• Bernède
• Blanc
• Calot
• Camot
• Cassagne
• Cazaudehore^[4]
• Chin
• Cournau
• Duclos
• Fam
• Hourticq
• Laborde
• Madaune
• Maribat
• Moulin de Mugain
• Mounpézat
• Pénouilh
• Périco
• Pierroulou
• Porte^[5]
• Poudgé
• Rey
• Ser (forest)

^[6]

Neighbouring communes and villages

^[3]

Toponymy

Entry to Auriac

Exit from Auriac

The commune name in béarnais is Auriac. Michel Grosclaude said that the name probably comes from the Latin man's name Aurius with the Gallo-Roman suffix -acum giving "Domain of Aurius".^[7]

The following table shows the origin of the commune name:

Name	Spelling	Date	Source	Page	Origin	Description
Auriac	Auriag	1096	Raymond	17	Marka	Village
	Auriac	1750	Cassini

Sources:

• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)^[8]
• Grosclaude: Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, 2006 (in French)^[7]
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750^[9]

Origins:

• Marca: Pierre de Marca, History of Béarn.^[10]

History

Paul Raymond noted that Auriac was once an annex of Argelos.^[8]

Administration

List of Successive Mayors^[11]

Mayors from 1824 to 1940

From	To	Name
1824	1829	Augustin Baix
1829	1831	Jean Bertrand
1831	1836	Augustin Baix
1836	1837	Pierre Madaune
1837	1864	Pierre Julien Viguerie
1864	1899	Justin Madaune
1899	1908	Jean Philippe Madaune
1908	1911	Maurice Rey
1911	1919	André Madaune
1919	1929	Jean Soubré
1929	1939	André Madaune
1939	1940	Jean Touret

Old Town Hall

The current Town Hall

Mayors from 1940

From	To	Name
1940	1942	Jean Evrard
1942	1944	Pierre Boué-Cam
1944	1945	Joseph Soubré
1945	1948	René Rey
1948	1949	Pierre Clauzet
1949	1951	Jean Maribat
1951	1951	Joseph Soubré
1951	1953	Pierre Boué-Cam
1953	1959	René Rey
1959	1962	Pierre Clauzet
1962	1963	René Rey
1965	1971	Claude Larrieu
1971	1977	Henri Hélip
1977	1993	Marc Rey
1993	2020	Christian Larrouturou
2020	2026	Jean-Claude Vignes

Inter-communality

The commune is part of five inter-communal structures:

• the Communauté de communes des Luys en Béarn;
• the SIVU for collective sanitation Auriac-Miossens-Lanusse-Thèze
• the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques;
• the inter-communal association for the management of drinking water from the Luy-Gabas-Lées;
• the inter-communal association of Garlède-Lalonquette;

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Auriacois or Auriacoises in French.^[12]

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1831 317 —     1836 351 +2.06% 1841 330 −1.23% 1846 352 +1.30% 1851 340 −0.69% 1856 339 −0.06% 1861 293 −2.87% 1866 283 −0.69% 1872 287 +0.23% 1876 284 −0.26% 1881 277 −0.50% 1886 257 −1.49% 1891 223 −2.80% 1896 226 +0.27% 1901 227 +0.09% 1906 231 +0.35%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1911 219 −1.06% 1921 189 −1.46% 1926 176 −1.42% 1931 179 +0.34% 1936 184 +0.55% 1946 182 −0.11% 1954 179 −0.21% 1962 163 −1.16% 1968 153 −1.05% 1975 167 +1.26% 1982 166 −0.09% 1990 180 +1.02% 1999 209 +1.67% 2007 247 +2.11% 2012 244 −0.24% 2017 238 −0.50%
Source: EHESS[13] and INSEE[14]

Culture and heritage

An Auriac Farmhouse

Civil heritage

The commune has a number of buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments:

• A House at Porte (16th century)^[5]
• A House at Cazaudehore (19th century)^[4]
• Houses and Farms (16th and 19th centuries)^[15]

Religious heritage

The Church of Saint-François-de-Sales

The commune has two religious buildings that are registered as historical monuments:

• The Parish Church of Saint-François-de-Sales (18th century) (destroyed)^[16]
• The Parish Church of Saint-François-de-Sales (1885).^[17] This church was built in 1885 to replace the old church of the same name which appeared on the Cassini Map. The Church contains many items that are registered as historical objects:
  • The furniture of the church^[18]
  • A Chasuble (18th century)^[19]
  • A Sun-ray Monstrance (19th century)^[20]
  • 2 Altar Candlesticks (19th century)^[21]
  • A Chalice (19th century)^[22]
  • A Prie-dieu (19th century)^[23]
  • A Stoup (19th century)^[24]
  • 2 Altars, 4 altar seatings, and 2 Tabernacles (1885)^[25]
  • An Altar, 2 altar seatings, a Tabernacle, and 2 Statues (1885)^[26]
  • 3 Stained glass windows of people: Saint Francis de Sales, Saint Michael protecting a canon, and Saint John (1887)^[27]

Facilities

Auriac has a primary school which also serves the communes of Garlède-Mondebat, Lalonquette et Miossens-Lanusse in an Educational Inter-communal Grouping.

See also

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
2. "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. Google Maps
4. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00026731 House at Cazaudehore (in French)
5. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00026732 House at Porte (in French)
6. Géoportail, IGN (in French)
7. Michel Grosclaude, Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, Edicions reclams & Édition Cairn - 2006, 416 pages, ISBN 2-35068-005-3 (in French)
8. Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, p. 17, Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011 (in French)
9. Cassini Map 1750 - Auriac
10. Pierre de Marca, History of Béarn p. 356
11. List of Mayors of France (in French)
12. Pyrénées-Atlantiques, habitants.fr
13. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Auriac, EHESS (in French).
14. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
15. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00026729 Houses and Farms (in French)
16. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00027931 Church of Saint-François-de-Sales (destroyed) (in French)
17. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA00027930 Church of Saint-François-de-Sales (in French)
18. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001186 Furniture in the Church (in French)
19. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001185 Chasuble (in French)
20. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001184 Sun-ray Monstrance (in French)
21. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001183 2 Altar Candlesticks (in French)
22. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001182 Chalice (in French)
23. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001181 Prie-dieux (in French)
24. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001180 Stoup (in French)
25. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001179 2 Altars, 4 altar seatings, and 2 Tabernacles (in French)
26. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001178 Altar, 2 altar seatings, a Tabernacle, and 2 Statues (in French)
27. Ministry of Culture, Palissy IM64001177 3 Stained glass windows of people: Saint Francis de Sales, Saint Michael protecting a canon, and Saint John (in French)

External links

• Community of communes of Luys en Béarn website (in French)
• Auriac on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (in French)
• Auriac on the 1750 Cassini Map