Aubencheul-aux-Bois is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the department of Aisne in the Hauts-de-France region of northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Geography

Aubencheul-aux-Bois is located some 20 km south of Cambrai and 30 km east of

Combles Combles () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Combles is situated on the D20 road, some north-east of Amiens. History Combles was the operations centre for the battle of Bapaume during the ...

. The northwest border of the commune is the border between Aisne and Nord departments. The D644 road from La Gaite in the north runs south along the western border of the commune changing to D1044 in the commune and continuing south to

Le Catelet Le Catelet () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne. The commu ...

. The D16 road runs east from the D644 to the village changing to D281 within the commune then continuing east as the D16 to Villers-Outreaux. The commune is composed entirely of farmland.Google Maps
/ref> Two streams rise in the commune, one flowing southwest and the other flowing east.

Neighbouring communes and villages

History

Aubencheul-aux-Bois (Aisne) monument aux morts

Aubencheul-aux-Bois was the seat of a small abbey founded in the 11th century in the middle of the forest of Arrouaise. It was part of the province of Cambrésis. The village was ravaged in 1584 by the Duke of Parma and in 1636 by the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both in ...

. The first inhabitants back to 1663 were the families of Loubry, Lévêque, Grau, Deboucq, Dessains, Dessenne, Guéguin, Carpentier, Milhem, Ferlier, Fichaux, Bernerd, Biar, Simon, Val, Bancourt, Noblécourt, Dubois, Caré, Faucon, Dazin, Savary, Malézieux, Lanthoine, Coupé, Pattée, Dambraine, Gressier, Thibaut, Billon, Domont, and Bantigny. On 16 July 1735, after five days of strong winds, a swarm of grasshoppers destroyed the stocks of straw and hay. There was a shortage in 1709 due to the freezing conditions from January to March with most fruit trees and corn crop being destroyed. This happened again in 1740 when poverty was extreme until the end of harvest in 1741 - during the

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

the population lost about a quarter of its population. On 15 June 1839 a tornado a mile wide with hail as large as chicken eggs arrived and everything was destroyed. A fire destroyed 63 houses on 17 June 1827. In 1848 there was famine, in 1849 Cholera. The village was almost completely destroyed during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Administration

List of Successive Mayors of Aubencheul-aux-BoisList of Mayors of France

Population

Aubencheul-aux-Bois (Aisne) croix de chemin

Sites and Monuments

* A Church, rebuilt after the 1914-18 war in a neo-Romanesque style mostly in brick.

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aubencheulauxbois Communes of Aisne