Arudy (; Gascon: Arudi) is a commune 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 Atlant ...

department 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 ...

region of south-western

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Arudyens'' or ''Arudyennes''. 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 (French: ''Vallée d'Ossau''; Gascon: ''Aussau'' / ''la vath d'Aussau'') is a valley of the French Pyrénées, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département''. Administration 18 communes belong to the Valley: Arudy, Aste-Béon, ...

on a bend on the

Gave d'Ossau The Gave d'Ossau is the torrential river flowing through the Ossau Valley, one of the three main valleys of the High-Béarn (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), in the Southwest of France. It is formed in Gabas from the confluence of two gaves coming from ...

some 20 km south-east of

Oloron-Sainte-Marie Oloron-Sainte-Marie (; oc, Auloron e Senta Maria; eu, Oloroe-Donamaria) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (before 2015: Aquitaine), southwestern France. History The town was founded by th ...

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 ''G ...

. 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.Google Maps
/ref> The SNCF 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 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, ...

of the Adour, the

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 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 to ...

. 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 (; 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 ...

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. 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 *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 (Ca ...

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

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 known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

or more precisely to the

Magdalenian The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madelei ...

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

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

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 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 conside ...

. Paul Raymond noted on page 14 of his 1863 dictionary that the commune had 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) ...

, 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 province ...

, with 86 fires 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. The bailiwick is probably modelled on t ...

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 composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorpho ...

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 reduce their environ ...

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 Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 p ...

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

In 2017 the commune had 2,229 inhabitants.

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 An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bo ...

(AOC) zone designation of

Ossau-iraty Ossau-Iraty is an Occitan- Basque cheese made from sheep 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 B ...

; *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 with the 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 of the periodic ...

thorium Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high ...

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 billion years, which makes it the longest-lived isotope of thorium. It decays by alpha decay to radium-228; its deca ...

. 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 ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

, 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 laun ...

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 structur ...

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'' (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 dist ...

, 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 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 Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

, 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 (, , ; ) 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 Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...

in Paris. * Georges Penabert, born on 23 April 1825 at Arudy *

Édouard Piette Édouard Louis Stanislas Piette (11 March 1827, Aubigny-les-Pothées – 5 June 1906, Rumigny) was a French archaeologist and prehistorian. Biography A magistrate by vocation, at around the age of 28 he developed an interest in geology. He stu ...

, 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 coi ...

excavation site in Arudy. * Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq, 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 common ...

. *

Robert Barran The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, born on 13 January 1918 at Arudy, he was a

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player. * Georges Laplace, French anthropologist, 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