Bézenet
| Bézenet | ||
|---|---|---|
|
||
| region | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | |
| Department | Allier | |
| Arrondissement | Montluçon | |
| Canton | Commentry | |
| Community association | Commentry Montmarault Néris Communauté | |
| Coordinates | 46 ° 20 ′ N , 2 ° 51 ′ E | |
| height | 270-376 m | |
| surface | 9.94 km 2 | |
| Residents | 948 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 95 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 03170 | |
| INSEE code | 03027 | |
Bézenet is a French commune with 948 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the arrondissement of Montluçon in the Allier department . It is located in the canton of Commentry and is a member of the municipal association Commentry Montmarault Néris Communauté .
The neighboring municipalities of Bézenet are Villefranche-d'Allier in the north, Sant-Priest-en-Murat in the northeast, Saint-Bonnet-de-Four in the east, Louroux-de-Beaune in the south, Montvicq in the southwest and Doyet in the west.
Transport links
Bézenet is connected to the city of Montluçon and the municipalities of Doyet and Montmarault via the former Route nationale 371 .
history
origin
Originally the hamlet of Bézenais was dependent on the municipality of Montvicq . Around 1622 today's community was inhabited by a dozen plowers. Two houses existed; one in the square of the church, whose gardens were walled. The second was in today's La Verzelle , there were various inns, craftsmen and other businesses. The remaining parts of today's community were sparsely populated.
From 1792, farmers started digging for coal. On November 12, 1828, a royal decree was issued as the first mining concession to MM. Etienne and Félix Devaux, Jacques Michard, and Havard Père. This eight hectare concession is called the “Bézenet Concession”. An annual pension of F 0.15 per hectare was paid. Regular operations began in 1837 and remained rather weak until 1860.
On November 10, 1855, the Agout family was granted a 90-hectare concession called the "Concession de l'Ouche". Until 1869 the company "Parent et Schaken" was active. Before 1830 there were no houses along what was then known as the “royal” street. The first buildings were not built until these two mining concessions were assigned.
When mining began, hundreds of daily deliveries of coal were transported to Montlucon by oxen and horses .
Mining
On July 8, 1880, the municipality of Bézenet was established after the population had increased since coal mining began - in 1890, Bézenet had 4500 inhabitants. Then the population fell until the closure of the mine before the First World War .
The mining industry consisted of the Sainte-Barbe, Ormes and Ouche shafts. The latter was ultimately used as a ventilation shaft . Of the buildings there is still the water tower , the stable buildings (converted into apartments) and the police station (closed). In 1873, 220,000 tons of coal were extracted by 1,400 miners.
Bézenet had three doctors, including Dr. Groslier, who worked in the mine. The miners were also able to get treatment in the eight-bed mining hospital. One nurse ran the pharmacy while another was responsible for tearing teeth apart without anesthesia.
There were craft businesses such as manufacturers of grinding wheels , brickworks and lime kilns .
In addition to the city schools (boys 'and girls' schools) there were several Catholic schools and a Protestant school in St. Charles. The girls 'school was then converted into a complementary girls' school and then into a mixed general education school (CEG). The boys' supplementary school was in Doyet.
The city had a gendarmerie (1882) and two railway stations : that of the Paris-Orleans network was connected to the Montluçon-Moulins line through the La Doyet station. Since 1892 there was a freight station for the transport of coal and lime as well as various materials for mining. As a result of the population decline, the gendarmerie was closed around 1920 and the freight yard in 1939. The station of the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans no longer carried out passenger transport from 1932 and no movement of goods since 1964.
Since its inauguration in 1888, the church, consecrated to Barbara of Nicomedia , has been nicknamed "the Cathedral" because the interiors are larger than those of the surrounding churches.
The market (officially founded in 1861) took place on Tuesday mornings on the church square; since the renovation of its on Jean Jaurès Square. The church square is called “place au Beurre” and the Jean Jaurès square is called “place Aux fruits” and “place du Pont”.
During the First World War, soldiers were taken care of in the boys' school during their convalescence . These classes were empty because many families of miners had left the community as a result of the coal mine being closed. These soldiers belonged to the 172nd Belfort Infantry Regiment and its 372 Reserve Regiment. The soldiers were wounded in the Battle of Verdun , the Battle of the Aisne and the Battle of the Somme . This accommodation made it possible to empty the makeshift military hospitals in Vichy .
In between, coal was extracted in open-cast mining , sometimes in poor quality.
Contemporary history
In Bézenet you can find the following shops and craft workshops:
- eight cafés / restaurants, two of which are hotels
- a pharmacy
- two butchers
- a charcuterie
- a backery
- a pastry shop
- four department stores
- including one each of Coop , Dock de Nevers and Groupe Casino
- a car and two-wheeler workshop
- an electronics store
- three auto repair shops
- two gas stations
- a drugstore / hardware store (only open Tuesday and Saturday)
- a feed, coal and heating oil trader
- a tobacco shop
- a charcoal burner / wine merchant
- a shoemaker
- a watchmaker
- a haberdashery and jersey dealer
- a bookstore / stationery dealer
- a nursery / nursery
There are also: insurance, blacksmith, bricklayer, plasterer, carpenter, plumber and electrician.
Population development
The population is known from censuses since 1881. The population up to 2005 is published on the website of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales .
| year | 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2007 | 2016 |
| Residents | 1050 | 973 | 1009 | 1005 | 922 | 953 | 1001 | 974 |
| Sources: Cassini and INSEE | ||||||||
Attractions
See: List of Monuments historiques in Bézenet
literature
- Le Patrimoine des Communes de l'Allier. Flohic Editions, Volume 2, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-84234-053-1 , pp. 798-800.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bézenet. Le nombre d'habitants. In: cassini.ehess.fr. École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales , p. 2 , accessed on May 4, 2018 (French).
- ↑ Populations légales 2007. Commune de Bézenet (03027). In: insee.fr. Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, p. 2 , accessed on May 4, 2018 (French).