Mouriez () 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 Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Located in the south of the department, the municipality has a surface area of 1,572

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

. Its 246 inhabitants (2018) are spread over the town and three

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

. A small agricultural village in the southern

Artois Artois ( ; ; nl, Artesië; English adjective: ''Artesian'') is a region of northern France. Its territory covers an area of about 4,000 km2 and it has a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras (Dutch: ''Atrecht'') ...

region, the main town is nestled in the heart of the Seven Valleys

pays In France, a ''pays'' () is an area whose inhabitants share common geographical, economic, cultural, or social interests, who have a right to enter into communal planning contracts under a law known as the Loi Pasqua or LOADT (''Loi d'Orientation ...

, the "green lung of the Pas-de-Calais", and in the hollow of one of the valleys in the hinterland of Montreuil, seven kilometers south of the town of Hesdin. This region is particularly renowned for the quality of its agricultural

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debri ...

s. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and in Early modern period, this proximity to Hesdin was an opportunity and sometimes a source of misfortune for the surrounding villages. Chance, because the town, thanks to its

Draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period, ...

y activity and its position as a crossroads, became a flourishing city. Misfortune, for the same reasons of wealth and traffic: these lands coveted and successively claimed by many

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

s, serve as a "

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

" for predatory

armies An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. From the beginning of the 12th century, the village communities of Mouriez and neighboring parishes developed an almost " symbiotic" relationship with the Premonstratensian community established in the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

of Dommartin, which gradually became the

owner Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

of most of the land on the

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

. In 1834, the finalisation of the commune expanded while its population grew due to the suppression of the commune of Dommartin, after the disappearance of its abbey. The former

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

of Dommartin is divided between the three bordering communes. For two centuries, the commune experienced a demographic decline mainly due to the

rural exodus Rural flight (or rural exodus) is the migratory pattern of peoples from rural areas into urban areas. It is urbanization seen from the rural perspective. In industrializing economies like Britain in the eighteenth century or East Asia in the ...

Geography

Site and location

Mouriez is located between the

Canche The river Canche (; nl, Kwinte) is one of the rivers that flow from the plateau of southern Boulonnais and Picardy, into the English Channel, of which the Somme is the largest example. It is long. The basin of the Canche extends to and lies i ...

and Authie valleys, on the southern foothills of the Artois hills. Mouriez is southeast of

Montreuil-sur-Mer Montreuil (; also nl, Monsterole), also known as Montreuil-sur-Mer (; pcd, Montreu-su-Mér or , literally ''Montreuil on Sea''), is a sub-prefecture in the Pas-de-Calais department, northern France. It is located on the Canche river, not far fr ...

, on the D136 road, east of

Berck Berck (), sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer (, literally ''Berck on Sea''), is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. It lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve. Geography Situa ...

and north of

Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...

and west of Arras. It is one of the largest in the canton and covers an area of 1,572 hectares. It adjoins the Somme department at the Goulaffre

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

and the Dompierre forest. The main town is located away

as the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver ...

in the southwest of the town of Hesdin. The village is located at the bottom of a

dry valley A dry valley may develop on many kinds of permeable rock, such as limestone and chalk, or sandy terrains that do not regularly sustain surface water flow. Such valleys do not hold surface water because it sinks into the permeable bedrock. There ...

with a depth varying from 40 to 60

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

s and incising an interfluvial

.Aerial view of Mouriez at scale 1:17000
French IGN web site, consulted on 3 March 2021. In addition to the village, the village is composed of three hamlets, two of which are located on the surrounding plateau: Bamières (to the east), and Lambus (to the north) near the national road 39 (RN 39). The hamlet of Rachinette (to the southeast) is nestled in the bottom of the vaux Roux and the Goulaffre.

Topography and hydrography

The valley bottom collects part of the

rainwater Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water fo ...

from the plateau. In the past, the

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock marke ...

may have caused some major flooding and it contributes to the degradation of several sections of road that run through the commune. Plateau de Mouriez

Geological structure, geomorphology and pedology

Climate

Communication and transportation

Population

Places of interest

* The seventeenth century church of the Nativité-de-Notre-Dame.

References

External links

Statistical data
INSEE {{authority control Communes of Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Artois