Arudy (; Gascon: Arudi) is a commune in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon language, Gascon Occitan language, Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; ) is a Departments of France, department located in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the southwest corner of metropolitan ...

department in the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine () is the largest Regions of France, administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes ...

region of south-western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The commune has been awarded one flower by the ''National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom'' in the ''Competition of cities and villages in Bloom''.

Geography

Arudy is located in the

Ossau Valley The Ossau Valley ( ; / ) is a valley of the France, French Pyrénées, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''departments of France, département''. Administration 18 communes of France, communes belong to the Valley: Arudy, Aste-Béon, Béost, Besca ...

on a bend on the Gave d'Ossau some 20 km south-east of

Oloron-Sainte-Marie Oloron-Sainte-Marie (; ; ) is a commune in the southwestern French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. History The town was founded by the Romans in the 1st century, then known as ''Illoronensium''. Situated on the Roman way between the ...

and 16 km south of

Gan The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to: Places * Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden" China * Gan River (Jiangxi) * Gan River (Inner Mongolia), * Gan County, in Jiangxi province * Gansu, abbreviated '' ...

. Access to the commune is by the D920 road from Buzy in the north passing through the commune just west of the town and continuing to Louvie-Juzon in the south. Access to the town is by the D53 connecting to the D920. The D287 also goes east from the town to join the D934 going north to Sévignacq-Meyracq. The D918 branches west from the D920 near the town and continues west through the north of the commune to

Lurbe-Saint-Christau Lurbe-Saint-Christau (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department The following is a list of the 545 Communes of France, communes of the Pyr� ...

.Google Maps
/ref> The

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

railway line from Buzy-en-Béarn - Laruns which passed through the commune was closed to traffic for passengers on 2 March 1969. A bus connection remained in place until 1 September 2009. Freight traffic between Buzy-en-Béarn and Arudy survived until 2003. The facilities have now been dismantled. The western hills of the commune are heavily forested with farmland in the valleys. The east of the commune in the Ossau Valley is mainly residential with some farmland.

Hydrography

Located in the

Drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which 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, ...

of the

Adour The Adour (; ; ) 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. is known as the ' ...

, the Gave d'Ossau forms the eastern border as it curves around the town and continues west, forming the northern border of the commune, to join the

Gave d'Aspe The Gave d'Aspe () is a torrential river flowing through the Aspe Valley, one of the three main valleys of the High-Béarn (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), in the southwest of France. It is long. It is formed in the ''Aspe Cirque'', below the Aspe pea ...

to form the

Gave d'Oloron The Gave d'Oloron () is a river of south-western France near the border with Spain. It takes its name from the city Oloron-Sainte-Marie, where it is formed from the rivers Gave d'Aspe and Gave d'Ossau. It joins the Gave de Pau in Peyrehorade ...

. Many tributaries rise in the south of the commune and flow north to join the Gave d'Ossau including the ''Lamisou'', the ''Arrec de Baycabe'', the ''Ruisseau du Bois de Nougué'', the ''Arrec de Lacerbelle'', and the ''Ruisseau du Termy'' which forms the western border of the commune.

Places and Hamlets

* L'Abat (Drinking trough) * L'Abétat (Col de) * Anglès * Angous * Arrabiot * Arrouge (ruins) * L'Aubisqué * Bareilles * Barguères * Bélier * Bérastou * Bersaut (Ravine) * Béteilles * Blingou (Turoun - 433 metres) * Bordedela (spring) * Bourdeu * Brousset * Caillabère * Caillou-Marrau * Camanère * Carrey * Casajus * Cabanes de Castillou * Cazassus * Cortès-Granges * Crest (Lake) * Cumarty * Daré Bourdeu * Etchaux * Florence * Garrail * Cabane de Garrietche * Gerbadure (Col de - 1198 metres) * Goubert * Habarra * Heugacète (Col de) * Hondaa * Houn Barrade (Col de) * Hourgolle * Les Jardins d'Arudy * Jugist * Laborde (two places) * Lacoste * Lacrabère * Ladebeze * Granges Lafont * Lanne * Larroun * Lascoungues * Laüs * Lissert * Louraou (Drinking trough) * Loustau * Pouey Maou * Malarode * Manaut * Mancesta (Ravine) * Martouré * Maysonnave * Médalou * Miégaville * Mourlane * Cité Notre-Dame * Nougué * L'Oustalot * Pédestarrès (ruins) * Pène de Plou (468 metres) * Le Pic d'Ossau * Pierris * Pouts * Saint-Cricq * Saubiron * Sépé (Spring) * Séré * Soubirou * Soumabielles (ruins) * Terranère * Tilhou * Tocortoure * Trois-Auges (Fountain) * Le Turon (530 mètres) * Vignau * Le Zoum

Neighbouring communes and villages

Toponymy

The commune name in béarnais is ''Arudi''. According to

Michel Grosclaude Michel Grosclaude (; ; 8 July 1926 – 21 May 2002) was a French linguist, and an author of works on grammar, lexicography and Occitan onomastics. Biography Born on 8 July 1926 in Nancy. He was the son of Pierre Grosclaude, an academic. He stu ...

the name comes from the basque ''harr'' ("stone" or "rock") and ''uri'' ("town"). The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune. Sources: *

Raymond Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. 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 ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

:''
''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 *Grosclaude: ''Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn'', 2006

, ''Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn'', Edicions reclams & Édition Cairn - 2006, 416 pages, *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 (Cas ...

from 1750Cassini Map 1750 – Arudy
/ref> Origins: *Ossau: Titles of the Ossau Valley *Pardies: Notaries of Pardies (

Monein Monein (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Departments of France, department in south-western France. Geography Neighbouring communes *North: Lahourcade and Pardies *West: Lucq-de-Béarn and Cardesse *South: Estial ...

)Notaries of Pardies (

) in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Chéronnet: Bernard ChéronnetBernard Chéronnet, ''Review of Pau and Bearn'', No. 16, 1989 *Luntz: Contracts retained by Luntz *Reformation: Reformation of BéarnManuscript from the 16th to 18th centuries - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Insinuations: Insinuations of the

Diocese of Oloron The former Roman Catholic Diocese of Oloron was a Latin rite bishopric in Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, Aquitaine region of south-west France, from the 6th to the 19th century. History The diocese of Oleron already existed in the 6th ce ...

Manuscripts from the 17th century in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Census: Census of BéarnManuscript from the 14th century - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Marca:

Pierre de Marca Pierre de Marca (24 January 1594 – 29 June 1662) was a French bishop and historian, born at Gan in Béarn of a family distinguished in the magistracy. His family was known among judicial circles in the 16th century, and maintained the ...

, ''History of Béarn''.

,
Histoire de Bearn
', La Veuve Jean Camusat, 1640, 850 pages

History

The first traces of civilisation in the commune date to

Prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

or more precisely to the

Magdalenian Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; ) are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years before present. It is named after the type site of Abri de la Madeleine, a ro ...

period. Excavations in four caves in the commune (Maladore, Poeymaü, Saint-Michel, and Espalungue) uncovered bones, tools, and many

snail A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

shells. The village of Eruri or Aruri was mentioned at the beginning of the 13th century. It was from the beginning of that time that the Ossau Union was created which permitted relative independence for the communes in the valley until the French Revolution. Paul Raymond noted on page 14 of his 1863 dictionary that the commune had a

Lay Abbey A Lay Abbey (Fr: Abbaye laïque) was a basic component of the Middle Ages in the western foothills of the northern Pyrenees. The adjective lay indicated that the property did not belong to a religious order. It is possible to identify a hundred la ...

, vassal of the

Viscounts of Béarn The viscounts of Béarn (Basque: ''Bearno'', Gascon: ''Bearn'' or ''Biarn'') were the rulers of the viscounty of Béarn, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinc ...

, with 86

fires Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion reaction when the fuel ...

and depended on the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

of Ossau. It was in the 19th century that economic growth started in the commune.

Sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

s and

Marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safet ...

were created which provided a living to several hundred people. One quarry still operates today. On 29 February 1980 Arudy was the epicentre of an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the

Richter scale The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...

and 7.5 on the MSK scale which damaged many buildings in the town. The college had to be rebuilt.

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive Mayors

Inter-communality

The commune is part of six inter-communal structures: * the Communauté de communes de la Vallée d'Ossau; * the local public management agency; * the association for the perception of Arudy; * the water association for the Ossau Valley; * the electrification association for Bas-Ossau; * the SIVU for sanitation for the Ossau Valley;

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Arudyens'' or ''Arudyennes'' in French.

Economy

Arudy has diverse economic activities: *the commune has a large sheep breeding centre and strong activity related to hunting. Arudy forms part of the

Appellation d'origine contrôlée In France, the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (, ; abbr. AOC ) is a label that identifies an agricultural product whose stages of production and processing are carried out in a defined geographical area – the ''terroir'' – and using ...

(AOC) zone designation of

Ossau-iraty Ossau-Iraty () is a Basque cheese made from sheep's milk. Origin Ossau-Iraty or Esquirrou is produced in south-western France, in the Northern Basque Country and in Béarn. Its name reflects its geographical location, the Ossau Valley in Béarn ...

; *the commune conserves and operates marble (gray-black) and limestone quarry sites. The Church of St. Severus in Assat, for example, was built in 1873 with Arudy limestone; *There are wood and marble working industries; *the Messier industrial foundry, a subsidiary of Ventana Aerospace Group, employs approximately 200 people. The foundry produces alloys of

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...

thorium Thorium is a chemical element; it has symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is a weakly radioactive light silver metal which tarnishes olive grey when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft, malleable, and ha ...

intended for the aviation industry. The machining of these materials has resulted in the production of waste containing thorium. 13.3 tonnes of the residue of thorium-magnesium alloys (Grime from the foundry, shavings from machining, miscellaneous scrap, etc.) are stored in a special location with a radioactivity of 1.9 GBq from

thorium-232 Thorium-232 () is the main naturally occurring isotope of thorium, with a relative abundance of 99.98%. It has a half life of 14.05 billion years, which makes it the longest-lived isotope of thorium. It decays by alpha decay to radium-228; its de ...

. The company faces economic difficulties and has been placed in a ''Judicial Recovery'' procedure by the Commercial Court on the 1 April 2010. The Commercial Court of Pau approved exit from the Judicial recovery safeguard procedure proposed by management and the court administrators of the Messier foundry in July 2011. Messier Foundry is a prime contractor in the ''CARAIBE'' collaborative project approved by the Aerospace Valley ''Pôle de compétitivité'' group and funded by the ''Fonds unique interministériel'' (Single inter-ministerial funds) programme.

Culture and heritage

Civil heritage

The Hôtel Pouts (17th century) is registered as an historical monument. It is an ancient

which later became a police station. The building was renovated in 1971 to house a museum: the ''Maison d'Ossau''. The Maison d'Ossau museum in the Hôtel Pouts displays regional archaeological collections, specimens of flora and fauna of the Pyrenees, and local costumes. Arudy has 16th and 17th century houses, a bridge said to be

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

, and

Lavoir A lavoir (, wash-house) is a public place set aside for the washing of clothes. Communal washing places were common in Europe until industrial washing was introduced, and this process in turn was replaced by domestic washing machines and by s ...

s (public laundries) from the 19th century.

Religious heritage

File:Arudy chapelle.JPG, Chapel dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michel File:Arudy croix.JPG, Cross dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michel File:Arudy falaise.JPG, Cliff above the Chapel Saint-Michel The Church of Saint-Germain (12th century, renovated in the 19th century) contains several items classified as historical objects: *A Statue: Saint Germain (17th century) *A Painting: Saint Germain the Auxerrois at prayer (17th century) *A

Retable A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum, it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate struct ...

on the main altar (17th century) *A Processional cross: Saint Lucie (18th century) *A Paschal Candlestick (17th century) The interior of the chapel of Saint-Michel is decorated with paintings by Pierre Martinez.

Environmental heritage

The ''Abétat'' peaks at 1204 metres, the ''Gerbadure'' at 1254m, the ''Soum Counée'' at 1361m, the ''Bersaut'' at 1368m, the ''Hourquettes de Baygrand'' at 1386m, the ''Senzouens'' (or the ''Breque'') at 1392m, and the ''Pic d'Escurets'' at 1440m.Géoportail

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming 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 district and is headed by its former e ...

, consulted on 12 March 2012

Amenities

Education

The town has a public college, and one primary school. Another private primary school has been closed since the beginning of September 2011.

Sports and sports facilities

*ES ArudyES Arudy website
is a

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

club which plays in

Fédérale 3 Fédérale 3 is the seventh division of rugby union in France. The competition involves 226 clubs in 21 pools of 8, and winners can progress up into higher division of competition. The competition above Fédérale 3 is Fédérale 2 and above that, ...

; *TCO tennis club provides coaching by a qualified instructor. They have three tennis courts: one clay court and two fast courts; *The Arudy rock-climbing school is one of the busiest in the region. It consists of three main areas with over a hundred climbing routes fitted out.

Notable people linked to the commune

* Jean Darriule, born on 16 November 1774 at Arudy, was a French Lieutenant-General. His name features on the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Plac ...

in Paris. *

Georges Penabert Georges Jean Penabert (1825–1903) was a French photographer. Early life He was born in Arudy (Basses Pyrénées, today Pyrénées-Atlantiques), April 23, 1825. He is the son of Pierre Penabert, died in Viamão (Brazil) in 1836 and Anne Diba ...

, born on 23 April 1825 at Arudy * Édouard Piette, born in 1827, directed the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

excavation site in Arudy. *

Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq (25 April 1884 – 13 May 1928) was a French road bicycle racer between 1900 and 1910. Dortignacq won seven stages in four Tour de France events. He only competed in stage 4 of the first Tour de France in 1903, finish ...

, born on 25 April 1884 at Arudy, he was a

road racing cyclist Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most comm ...

. * Robert Barran, born on 13 January 1918 at Arudy, he was a

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. * Georges Laplace, French

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

, born in 1918 and died in 2004 at Pau, in 1970 he founded the centre for stratigraphic Paleo-ethnology at Arudy.

Bibliography

*René Arripe, ''Ossau 1900: The Canton of Arudy'', Loubatières, Toulouse, 1990 *René Arripe, ''Ossau Valley 2000: The Canton of Arudy'', R. Arripe, 2004, 782 pages

References

External links

''Arudy'' on the 1750 Cassini Map
{{authority control Communes of Pyrénées-Atlantiques