Abidos, Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Abidos
Commune
A street in Abidos
Coat of arms
Location of Abidos
Abidos Show map of France Abidos Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 43°23′59″N 0°37′23″W
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Pau
Canton	Le Cœur de Béarn
Intercommunality	Lacq-Orthez
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Jean-Claude Mirassou[1]
Area ^1	3.06 km^2 (1.18 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	209
• Density	68/km^2 (180/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
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 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Abidos (French pronunciation: [abidɔs]; Occitan: Avidòs) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine 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.^[3]

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.^[3]

Places and hamlets

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

^[4]

Neighbouring communes and villages

^[3]

Toponymy

The name Abidos appears in the forms:

• Avitos in the 11th century,^[5] Pierre de Marca^[6] and around 1100^[7] and in the Cartulary of the Abbey of Lucq.^[8]
• Avitoss was another form around 1100,^[7] Cartulary of the Abbey of Lucq-de-Béarn.^[8] *Avezos also appeared around 1100^[7] in the Cartulary of the Abbey of Lucq-de-Béarn^[8]
• Avidoos in the 13th century^[5] in the Fors de Béarn^[9]
• Sent-Sadarnii of Abidos in 1344^[5] Notaries of Pardies^[10]
• Bidos and Bydos in 1548,^[5] Reformation of Béarn^[11]
• Abidos on the Cassini Map of 1750^[7][12]

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^[5] 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

Arms of Abidos

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
1968	2008	Léon Guilhamélou-Sempé	UMP
2008	2026	Jean-Claude Mirassou

Inter-communality

Abidos is a member of seven inter-communal organisations:^[13]

• the community of communes of Lacq-Orthez
• 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.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 225 —     1800 230 +0.31% 1806 203 −2.06% 1821 241 +1.15% 1831 238 −0.13% 1836 229 −0.77% 1841 207 −2.00% 1846 222 +1.41% 1851 222 +0.00% 1856 237 +1.32% 1861 216 −1.84% 1866 227 +1.00% 1872 208 −1.45% 1876 229 +2.43% 1881 204 −2.29% 1886 212 +0.77% 1891 182 −3.01% 1896 186 +0.44%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 184 −0.22% 1906 190 +0.64% 1911 183 −0.75% 1921 170 −0.73% 1926 162 −0.96% 1931 149 −1.66% 1936 149 +0.00% 1946 109 −3.08% 1954 147 +3.81% 1962 255 +7.13% 1968 226 −1.99% 1975 184 −2.89% 1982 187 +0.23% 1990 188 +0.07% 1999 200 +0.69% 2009 233 +1.54% 2014 232 −0.09% 2020 212 −1.49%
Source: EHESS[14] and INSEE[15]

Economy

The town is part of the zone designation of Ossau-Iraty cheese.

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", 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

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. Géoportail, IGN, (in French)
5. Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011, p. 2 (in French)
6. Pierre de Marca, History of Béarn (in French)
7. Michel Grosclaude, Topnymical Dictionary of communes, Béarn, Ed. Edicions reclams & Édition Cairn - 2006, ISBN 2-35068-005-3, p. 120-121
8. Cartulary of the Abbey of Lucq, Pierre de Marca, History of Béarn (in French)
9. Manuscript of the 14th century - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in French)
10. Notaries of Pardies - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in French)
11. Manuscript of the 16th to the 18th centuries - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in French)
12. Cassini Map 1750 - Abidos
13. Intercommunality of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Cellule informatique préfecture 64 Archived May 5, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, consulted on 9 November 2011
14. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Abidos, EHESS (in French).
15. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE

External links

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