Saint-Chély-d'Apcher (; oc, Sanch Ale dels Apchièrs) 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

Lozère Lozère (; oc, Losera ) is a landlocked department in the region of Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the east by Ardèche, to the south by Gard, to the west by Aveyron, ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

.INSEE commune file
/ref>

History

Its

inhabitants Domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law," which includes the law that governs a person's status and their property. It is independent of a person's nationality. Although a domicile may change from time to time, a person has only one ...

are called Barrabans. This name was allotted to the inhabitants of Saint-Chély-d'Apcher during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...

. In 1363, the town was attacked by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. The inhabitants defended themselves with bars, and advanced towards the attacking English army to the cry of "barres en avant" ("bars ahead").

Coat of Arms

The shield of Saint-Chély-d'Apcher is a red castle with two blue axes and the background is golden. The axes can be a product of the legend of the eight Gévaudan's baronage.

Apcher Castle

Château d'Apcher The Château d'Apcher is a ruined feudal castle in the ''commune'' of Prunières in the Lozère ''département'' of France. The castle was built and altered in the 11th century, with further building in the 12th and 14th centuries. It was the an ...

is a feudal castle. It is situated in the village Prunières, 3 km from Saint Chély. Now, it is a ruin, the donjon and chapel are still intact.

Gévaudan Beast

The Gévaudan Beast is an animal at the origin of many attacks against women and children between 1764 and 1767. It looked like a wolf or a werewolf. The beast is a legend but many people were actually killed.

Geography

Saint-Chély-d'Apcher is located at the centre of the

Gévaudan Gévaudan (; oc, Gavaudan, Gevaudan) is a historical area of France in Lozère ''département''. It took its name from the Gabali, a Gallic tribe subordinate to the Arverni. History After the conquest of Gaul, the Romans preserved the cap ...

area, between

Aubrac Aubrac is a small village in the southern Massif Central of France. The name is also applied to the surrounding countryside, which is properly called L'Aubrac in French. The Aubrac region has been a member of the Natura 2000 network since August 200 ...

and

Margeride Margeride (in Auvergnat ) is a mountainous region of France, situated in the Massif Central, inside the ''départements'' of Cantal, Haute-Loire and Lozère. Location In Cantal, its western boundary is the Truyère, and its eastern boundary, i ...

. It's in the North of Lozère. St Chély-d'Apcher is 935 meters high and it is 28.26 km². There are 4,455 inhabitants in 2016. The climate is temperate. In summer it is warm, the temperatures can vary from 12 to 30 degrees Celsius. In winter it can be very cold, it can be freezing. It can snow a lot.

Transport

The A75 motorway (

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...

–

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

passes east of the town. It replaced the old

Route nationale 9 The Route nationale 9, or ''RN 9'', was a trunk road (Route Nationale (France), nationale) in France between Moulins, Allier, Moulins and the frontier with Spain. Reclassification Much of the route of the RN 9 has now been/or in the process of be ...

, which was reclassified as RD 809 and passes the town. The RD 806 (former Route nationale 106) connects Saint-Chély-d'Apcher with Mende. The

Saint-Chély-d'Apcher station Saint-Chély-d'Apcher (; oc, Sanch Ale dels Apchièrs) is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France. History Its inhabitants are called Barrabans. This name was allotted to the inhabitants of Saint-Chély-d'Apcher during the Hundre ...

is served by local and

Intercités Intercités (before September 2009: ''Corail Intercités'') is a brand name used by France’s national railway company, SNCF, to denote non high speed services on the 'classic' network in France. SNCF established the Intercités brand in January ...

trains between Clermont-Ferrand and Béziers.

Population

Culture

There is an art festival: Saint Chely d'Arte. It takes place during the second week-end of August. There are music, theater and exhibitions. The cinema was renovated in 2014 to welcome both movies and plays. There are 144 seats. The library is in the village square. The cultural centre was created in 1981. There are art exhibitions made by professional and hobbyist artists. Radio Zema is a local radio station, created in July 1981. It is animated by employees and volunteers.

Economy

Industry

The town has a long-standing iron foundry, owned by the

ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second larg ...

group. It comprises production lines for

rolling Rolling is a type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an axially symmetric object) and translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the other moves), such that, if ideal conditions exist, the two are in contact ...

, annealing and scouring, and it also manufactures

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

. The Arcelor Mittal factory of Saint chely was created in 1916. It produces 100,000 tonnes of steel per year and it is the European leader in top of the range products. The customers are from the European Union. The factory invested almost €750,000 annually to preserve the environment. The factory is famous on a European scale. It is the only factory of Arcelor Mittal in Europe that produces pieces of sheet metal, more precisely non-oriented electrical steels.

Fire Station

The fire station of Saint-Chély-d'Apcher was inaugurated on July 21, 2010. There are approximately 46 firefighters. There are fire engines, a ladder truck, tankers, rescue trucks and two bikes. In 2014, the firefighters realized more than 548 interventions.

Sports

There are 2 gymnasiums where there is climbing, body building, basketball, football and handball. There are a lot of sports clubs. Dance, tennis and badminton for example. The swimming pool is called Atlantie. There, people can do many activities. There is an island for children. There are also a slide, a sauna and a Jacuzzi. There is a competition pool. There you can practise sporty swimming, synchronized swimming, swimming with fins and scuba-diving.

Monuments and tourist areas

Saint-Chély-d'Apcher has a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

without a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

and a church without a bell tower. The bell tower of the town is also the old town

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

Museums

*Le musée des papillons (Museum of butterflies) contains more than 2700 species of

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

. But at the moment, the museum of butterflies is closed. *Le musée de la métallurgie (Metalworking Industry Museum) was created in 1990, by workers of the factory. It shows the life of these men at work and the story and evolution of the factory.

Camping

The town campsite is called "La Croix des Anglais". It is 2 hectares. It's close to the town centre and to the countryside. We can sleep in a tent, in a caravan, or in the open. It is situated between Margeride mountains and Aubrac.

Outdoor Activities

Hiking, horse riding, biking, hunting, fishing, skiing...

Others

Saint-Chély-d'Apcher is a popular area for

ornithologists __NOTOC__ This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists. A * John Abbot – US *Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US *William Louis Abbott – US * Joseph H. Acklen – US *Humayun Abdul ...

, due to wide variety of both rural- and urban-dwelling birds that can be seen. Local dancing involves cartwheels, stamping and clapping, whilst men wear smocks and women wear traditional layered dresses.

Education

Middle schools

There are 2 middle schools in Saint-Chély-d'Apcher. The Haut Gevaudan school (built in 1962) and the Sacre coeur school (built in 1959). This year (2016) there are around 300 students in the Haut Gévaudan school.

High schools

There are four high schools in Saint-Chély-d'Apcher: -> Théophile Roussel high school -> Sacré Coeur general high school -> Sacré Coeur professional high school (industry and cooking fields) -> Rabelais professional high school (nature and environnement fields) There are about 2,600 students in Saint-Chély-d'Apcher.

Higher education and research

Saint-Chély-d'Apcher has a college where it is possible to take a course in BTSA management and nature conservation. The college also proposes to offer a course in electronic and mechanical design and manufacture.

Twin towns

*The town is twinned with

Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England, east of the Great North Road, north-east of Leeds, and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Chely-D'apcher Saintchelydapcher Gévaudan