Aast (, ) 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

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlanti ...

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 the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by t ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

in southwestern

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 ...

. The inhabitants are known as ''Aastais''.

Geography

Aast, Pyrenees-Atlantiques, Drinking Trough

Location

The village is situated on the plateau of Ger and is composed of a dozen scattered houses. Aast is 20 km east of Pau and 20 km north of

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...

. Access to the commune is by road D70 then D311 north-east from

Gardères Gardères (; oc, Gardèras) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France. Together with Luquet, the commune forms an enclave of Hautes-Pyrénées within the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. A neighbouring secon ...

, road D64 north-west from Ger, and road D311 when coming south from

Ponson-Dessus Ponson-Dessus is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. Neighboring communes are Ponson-Debat-Pouts to the north, Oroix (in Hautes-Pyrénées) to the east, Séron (also in Hautes-Pyrénées) and Aast t ...

. Other country roads can also be used to access the commune.Google Maps
/ref>

Hydrography

Located in the

Drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

of the

Adour The Adour (; eu, Aturri; oc, Ador) is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High-Bigorre (Pyrenees), in the commune of Aspin-Aure, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay) near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost ca. i ...

, Aast is traversed by the ''Carbouère'' stream, a tributary of the ''Louet'' river.

Localities and hamlets

* Aast * Bayet * Bidou * Cadet * France * Gachau * Hourcade * Lasbordes * Lasserre * Lassus * Lescloupe * Mouly * Pouquet * Rémy * Toulou Géoportail
,

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

, consulted on 14 October 2011

Neighbouring communes and villages

Toponymy

''Aast'' is the first French commune in alphabetical order. Previously, ''Aas'', another commune in the Lower Pyrenees, came first until 1861, when it merged with the commune of Assouste to form the new commune of

Eaux-Bonnes Eaux-Bonnes (, "good waters"; oc, Aigas Bonas) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. Description Eaux-Bonnes is close to the small town of Laruns. It is situated at a height of at the entrance of a fi ...

. The commune's Béarnais name is also ''Aast''. According to Dauzat and Rostaing ''Aast'' comes from the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

''ast'' ("rock"). This seems unlikely given the physical setting.

Michel Grosclaude Michel Grosclaude (; oc, Miquèu; 1926–2002) was a philosopher and French linguist, and an author of works on grammar, lexicography and Occitan onomastics. Biography Born on 8 July 1926 in Nancy at (Meurthe-et-Moselle). He was the son of ...

, Toponymical Dictionary of communes, Béarn, ed. Edicions reclams & Édition Cairn - 2006 , page 201 suggests that the name of the town derives from an

anthroponym Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'' / 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'' / 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and co ...

composed of ''Aner'' + ''Aster''.

Brigitte Jobbé-Duval Brigitte Jobbé-Duval is a French historian and linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects ...

, Dictionary of place names - Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 2009, ed. Archives and Culture recalls that in 1429, ''Aast'' appeared as ''Hast'', which means ''lance'', and therefore advanced the theory that ''Aast'' could refer to a battle that occurred there. The following table details the origins of the commune name. Sources: *

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

:''
''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees''
1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. ''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees''
, Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011 *Cassini:

Cassini Map The Cassini Map or Academy's Map is the first topographic and geometric map made of the Kingdom of France as a whole. It was compiled by the Cassini family, mainly César-François Cassini (Cassini III) and his son Jean-Dominique Cassini (Ca ...

from 1750Cassini Map 1750 – Aast
Origins: *Census: Census of MontanerManuscript from 1429 in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Reformation: Reformation of BéarnManuscript from the 16th to 18th centuries - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques

History

There was a

Lay Abbey Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France * Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

in Aast which was abolished in 1791. The Lordship of Aast was owned by the Day family from 1674 until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. In 1678, Jérome de Day, adviser to the king, bought the abbey and

tithes A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

with rights of patronage: he was to provide a priest and entitled to receive a portion of the tithe, to sit in the choir, to be first to receive the blessed bread, and to be buried in the church.

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive Mayors of Aast Aast, Pyrenees-Atlantiques, War Memorial

;Mayors from 1942

Population

Aast, Pyrenees-Atlantiques, Wayside Cross

Culture and Heritage

Civil heritage

The town has a number of old farmhouses: * The Fray Farmhouse (17th century) *A Farmhouse at Bayet (19th century) *Houses and Farms (18th and 19th century)

Religious Heritage

The Church of Saint Martin (1854) dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours was built under

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

during the administration of Mayor Bartholomew Lassus. Recently renovated by the artist Villarubias, there are many objects in the church registered as historical objects: *A Processional Lantern (18th century) *A

Thurible A thurible (via Old French from Medieval Latin ) is a metal censer suspended from chains, in which incense is burned during worship services. It is used in Christian churches including the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Assyrian Church of th ...

(17th century) *A Pail for holy water (19th century) *A Painting: Christ on the cross with the Virgin, Saint Madeleine and Saint Martin (18th century) *2 Paintings: Saint Martin Bishop, and the Charity of St. Martin (19th century) *Statue: Saint Joseph (19th century) *Altar

Pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

(19th century) *A Pulpit (18th century) *2 Altars and

Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

s (19th century) *The Main Altar (19th century) *5 stained glass windows by Henri Gesta (1927) *The Furniture in the ChurchMinistry of Culture, Palissy

References

External links

''Aast'' on the 1750 Cassini Map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aast, Pyrenees-Atlantiques Communes of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia