Arras-sur-Rhône () is a commune in the

Ardèche Ardèche (; , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche (river), Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.department in the

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

region of southern

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 ...

Geography

Arras-sur-Rhône is located 2 km south of Saint-Vallier and 2 km north of Vion on the right bank of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

. Access to the commune is by the D86 road from Ozon in the north passing down the length of the commune and through the village continuing south to Vion. The D800 road also goes south from the village crossing the Rhône via the Gervans Hydro-electric Dam to join National Highway N7 on the left bank. The Paris-Lyon-Marseille railway passes through the commune but there is no station. The nearest station is at

Tournon-sur-Rhône Tournon-sur-Rhône (; , before 1988: ''Tournon'') is a commune in the Ardèche department of southern France. It is one of the most populous communes in the Ardèche department, after Annonay, Aubenas, and Guilherand-Granges. Geography It i ...

to the south. The commune is mainly forests in the hills and farmland in the valley and along the Rhône with the village spread along the D86.Google Maps
/ref> The

forms the entire eastern border of the commune with the department of

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

on the other side. A number of streams rise in the commune and flow down to the Rhône including the ''Ruisseau de la Tuillere'', the ''Ruisseau de Bachasse'', the ''Ruisseau d'Ozon'', the ''Ruisseau des Marettes'', and the ''Ruisseau de Pizon'' which forms the southern border of the commune.

Neighbouring communes and villages

Toponymy

The village of ''Arras'' is mentioned for the first time in 987 as ''Villa Aratica''. It then appears in various spellings such as: *''Villa Erattis'' 1050 *''Erasio'' 1271 *''Ras'' 1275 *''Herasium/Heras'' 1282 *''Herario'' 1400 *''Heyras'' 1457 *''Herras'' 1464 *''Arrans'' 1576 *''Heras'' 1617 *''Arras'' 18th century *''Arras-sur-Rhône'' in 1918 The suffix ''-sur-Rhône'' was formalized by decree in 1925. Following the establishment of the railway, the name "Arras" was always confused with the city of Arras in the

Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...

Albert Dauzat Albert Dauzat (; 4 July 1877 – 31 October 1955) was a French linguist specializing in toponymy and onomastics Onomastics (or onomatology in older texts) is the study of proper names, including their etymology, history, and use. An ''alethony ...

qualified this name as "obscure".

History

The first known lord of Arras was ''Sylvion d'Arras'': according to a report dating from 1278 this lord owned the fief of ''tour brune''. The village has seen many changes over time with the construction of the dam and the railway which resulted in numerous expropriations of land and the loss of local jobs. Today the vineyard area of Arras is about 35 hectares against 100 hectares in 1956. In 1969 the

Saint-Joseph AOC Saint-Joseph or St.-Joseph () is a French wine ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) in the northern Rhône wine region of France. Though the appellation covers the largest amount of land, it is second in actual size under vine to Crozes-H ...

was established following a renovation plan for the vineyards dating from 1960. However the appellation zone was limited to the heights of the area in 1986. The main culture of the territory before the French Revolution was that of

mulberries ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinate ...

. A

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

passed through the village at the place called ''impasse de l’Ancienne Voie'' (Ancient Way cul-de-sac) where there are Milliaria indicating distances in Roman miles (1 mile was equivalent to 1.475 kilometres). Two were still in place and on one of them is the inscription "Millia Passum XXXI" = 31 Roman miles, or 48 kilometres which is the distance between Arras and

Vienne Vienne may refer to: Places *Vienne (department), a department of France named after the river Vienne *Vienne, Isère, a city in the French department of Isère * Vienne-en-Arthies, a village in the French department of Val-d'Oise * Vienne-en-Bessi ...

but they were moved and sealed into the entrance to the courtyard of the castle museum of Tournon-sur-Rhone in 1939 and can no longer be moved. A main road has always passed through the village which is located on an important route between

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

: first the Roman road then a royal road followed by an imperial road.

The Watermill

The Watermill was used to grind grain. It was installed in 1877 and was operational until 1943. Until the flour trade was successful, bread was the staple food of the population. A stone dam was built on the Ozon to retain water (at a place called ''la Levée'') over a canal 200 metres wide with an iron wheel measuring 6m in diameter with which the fall of Water could drive a geared system. A valve system was used to regulate the flow rate. In 1935 the wheel was replaced by cylindrical machines and a diesel engine was also installed to ensure production even in times of low water. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the growing of wheat decreased and new modern mills were built.

The railway

The Paris-Lyon-Marseille line was built between 1848 and 1853. In 1879 two train stations were built: Vion and

Sarras Sarras is a mystical island to which the Holy Grail is brought in the Arthurian legend. In the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, Joseph of Arimathea and his followers visit the island on their way to Britain; while there Joseph's son Josephus is invested as ...

. It was not until 1897 that Arras station opened together with a line between

Sécheras Sécheras () is a commune in the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southern France. It is around 60 km south of Lyon. Population See also *Communes of the Ardèche department The following is a list of the ...

and Ozon. Today there is the ''Café de la halt'' on the location of the old station. There is also the inscription: ''ici on loge à pied ou à cheval'' (here one goes on foot or by horse) which is the location of the former postal relay. During the height of the station, 5-7 tons of fruit were transported by rail to Paris. In 1974 the station was destroyed following the construction of the dam. In 1978 the route was electrified in order to clear the left bank. The bridge over the river was built in 1876.

The fruit market

The fruit market was located on the square (Route du barrage), the last market took place in 1968 .

Other Historical Projects

;The Dam A project of the mid 1960s: on 26 June 1960 the first public meeting was held. The dam was built in the 3 years from 1969 to 1971. To do this 65 to 67 hectares of land were expropriated and ''Jamet island'' disappeared - an expanse of 12.58 hectares. The structure was built on a layer of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

(called "blue earth") in order to cope with the frequent flooding of the Rhône and support water speeds up to 7500 m3/s. The largest known flood occurred in 1856 when there were speeds of 6,100 m3/s. The largest observed flood was in 1957 with flows around 5,300 m3/s. The dam is 152 metres long and has 6 spillways 22 metres long and 12.8 metres high. Four sluice gates with shutters allow a water flow of 1,800 m3 per second. The lake to retain water for the dam extends for 20 km and it can store 3.24 million m3. It produces an average of 700 million kWh annually. ;The hydroelectric power station of Gervans It has 4 generating units of 30,000 KVA each. It uses water after the spillway of the dam passes through the canal. ;The lock: The by-pass canal is 3.5 kilometres long and the lock is 12 metres wide and 195 metres long. The drop height varies between 9.8 and 11.55 metres following the low water of the Rhone. The total tonnage past the lock is 1,791,788 tonnes. The distribution of vessels using the lock is: *merchant ships = 3,372; *pleasure craft = 1,707; *passenger vessels = 341; *service vessels = 126; a total of 5,546 ships in the year 1998. To ensure protection against floods the turbines can rotate at high speed without generating electricity. A project management structure allows it to work properly at low water: the reservoir level can be lowered to voluntarily make the turbines spin faster and produce more energy at a given time, especially during peak periods.

Administration

List of Successive Mayors

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Arrageois'' or ''Arrageoises'' in French.

Sites and Monuments

A Roman Milestone in the cemetery is registered as an historical monument.

Remains of Arras Castle

The castle was organized around a high circular

Keep A keep 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 castles that were fortified residen ...

called the ''Tower of Soubise'' or White Tower which is registered as an historical monument and is well preserved. Next to it was a square brown tower called "Joviac" of which only a wall remains. It is located on the top of a rocky outcrop overlooking the

and the mouth of the valley of the Auzon. Today only a few walls remain to indicate the presence of the castle and the walls of the Keep. The Keep appears as a Saracen tower approximately 20 metres high and 6.1 metres in diameter. The granite rubble walls are 180 centimetres thick at the first level. The Keep may date from the first third of the 13th century. The two towers mark the presence of a co-lordship. An integral part of the defence system of the town, it guarded the entrance to the valley. It is possible that the site already played this role during

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

and the Romans would have used Arras as an

aerarium ''Aerarium'', from ''aes'' ("bronze, money") + -''ārium'' ("place for"), was the name given in Ancient Rome to the public treasury, and in a secondary sense to the public finances. ''Aerarium populi Romani'' The main ''aerarium'', that of ...

(place to safeguard military treasure). Possession of the tower and the chateau gave the owners the right to levy tolls. The French Revolution abolished all tolls which removed any interest in the building and accelerated its erosion.

The Arras-sur-Rhône church

The church was founded by Father ''De Pons d'Eyras''. In 987 it was returned with the parish to the Abbey of Saint-Bernard of

Romans 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 ...

, then passed to the Prior of the island of Saint-Vallier, and later to the Canons of Saint-Ruff (

Diocese of Vienne The Archbishopric of Vienne, named after its episcopal seat in Vienne in the Isère département of southern France, was a metropolitan Roman Catholic archdiocese. It is now part of the Archdiocese of Lyon. History The legend according to whic ...

) and the Archpriests of Saint-Félicien. Before the French Revolution, until 1790, the church and the priory house of Arras formed a whole with adjoining lands: 6400 m2 of vines, 1.7 hectares of land, and 7000 m2 of outcropping rocks. In 1833 the bell tower was rebuilt with stone from the ''Guerrys'' quarry located one kilometre away on the old area of Ozon. Crussol

Molasse __NOTOC__ In geology, "molasse" () are sandstones, shales and conglomerates that form as terrestrial or shallow marine deposits in front of rising mountain chains. The molasse deposits accumulate in a foreland basin, especially on top of flys ...

was added to the stone. There followed many stages of restoration: in 1839 the roof was restored once, then a second time in 1900 with the rest of the frame, then a third time in 1988. During the years 1992 and 1993 the Interior was restored with tiles, ceilings and paintings. The walls of the old cemetery were destroyed to accommodate the square in 1959–1960. The patron saint of the parish is Saint-Clair. A remarkable

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

tree is planted next to the church. An ancient

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

commemorative plaque in the church is listed as an historical object.Ministry of Culture, Palissy

The ViaRhôna

The ViaRhôna cycling route from

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

passes through the commune along the Rhone since 2014. It passes from the bridge linking Saint-Vallier (26) and Arras (07) then successively the communes of Ozon, Arras-sur-Rhône, Tournon-sur-Rhone, then the woodland communes of Vion, Lemps, and Saint-Jean-de-Muzols where it crosses the Doux.
ViaRhôna.com

Other places of interest

*The Communal wells, protected and maintained by the inhabitants as a valuable historical heritage of the town (located in Rue des Granges). *Chalets and vineyard terraces are visible in the valley of the Ozon; *The ''crosses in the village'' and a chair in carved walnut; *The Ozon gorges have a meridional climate which explains the presence of Mediterranean-style vegetation with

cacti A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

, and also

cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

s and

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

s. There are two hiking trails; *The Museum displays tools used in old farming and winemaking and also old furniture and household goods; *The Old Bridge: built before 1348 to avoid the use of the ford located at the end of the old Roman road and renovated in 1779;