Beaufin

Beaufin
Commune
The village; left is the Town Hall, right is the church
Location of Beaufin
Beaufin Show map of France Beaufin Show map of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Coordinates: 44°47′19″N 5°57′39″E
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Isère
Arrondissement	Grenoble
Canton	Matheysine-Trièves
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Emmanuel Serre[1]
Area ^1	6 km^2 (2 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	20
• Density	3.3/km^2 (8.6/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	38031 /38970
Elevation	744–2,080 m (2,441–6,824 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Beaufin (French pronunciation: [bofɛ̃]) is a commune in the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-eastern France.^[3]

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Beaufinois or Beaufinoises.^[4]

Geography

The Communal oven

Beaufin is located some 50 km south by south-east of Grenoble and 25 km north by north-west of Gap. Access to the commune is by the D217 road from Ambel in the north-west which continues east across the river to join the Route nationale N85. The D57L from Le Glaizil in the south-east also passes through the commune and across the river without connecting to the road to the village. The only access to the village is by the D217A which branches off the D217 in the commune and is a dead-end road due to the collapse of a tunnel on the road leading south. The commune has three well-defined areas: in the west and south are the slopes of Mount Faraud with bare rock in the higher parts (over 1600 metres) and forests in their lower part; in the centre is a cultivated plain where the village is located; in the north and east the wooded slopes descend towards the river Drac.^[5][6]

The Drac forms the northern and eastern border of the commune with the upper reaches of the artificial Lac du Sautet to the north of the commune. The Drac is also the departmental boundary with Hautes-Alpes until the south-eastern corner of the commune where the departmental border becomes the southern border of the commune. One small stream flows north from Mount Faraud, through the village and into Lake Sautet.^[5][6]

Toponymy

Beaufin appears as Baufin on the 1750 Cassini Map^[7] and as Bausin on the 1790 version.^[8]

Administration

List of Successive Mayors^[9]

From	To	Name
2001	2003	Alphonse Bonthoux
2003	2026	Emmanuel Serre

Demography

In 2017 the commune had 20 inhabitants.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 157 —     1800 107 −5.33% 1806 175 +8.54% 1821 201 +0.93% 1831 214 +0.63% 1836 191 −2.25% 1841 175 −1.73% 1846 172 −0.35% 1851 185 +1.47% 1856 172 −1.45% 1861 174 +0.23% 1866 171 −0.35% 1872 171 +0.00% 1876 151 −3.06% 1881 160 +1.16% 1886 139 −2.77% 1891 122 −2.58% 1896 119 −0.50%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 106 −2.29% 1906 101 −0.96% 1911 83 −3.85% 1921 80 −0.37% 1926 48 −9.71% 1931 51 +1.22% 1936 35 −7.25% 1946 44 +2.31% 1954 32 −3.90% 1962 31 −0.40% 1968 29 −1.11% 1975 21 −4.51% 1982 25 +2.52% 1990 27 +0.97% 1999 25 −0.85% 2007 24 −0.51% 2012 22 −1.73% 2017 20 −1.89%
Source: EHESS[10] and INSEE[11]

The Town Hall

An Iron wayside cross

Sites and Monuments

The Church

• A Church from the 19th century with a unique nave, some marble in the interior (the altar, a foot stoup, a baptismal font)
• Remains of a castle from the early 15th century
• Red Rock lava flows.

See also

• Communes of the Isère 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. INSEE commune file
4. Inhabitants of Isère (in French)
5. Beaufin on Google Maps
6. Beaufin on the Géoportail from National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (in French)
7. Baufin on the 1750 Cassini Map
8. Bausin on the 1790 Cassini Map
9. List of Mayors of France (in French)
10. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Beaufin, EHESS (in French).
11. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE