Héricourt

Héricourt
region	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Department	Haute-Saône
Arrondissement	Lure
Canton	Héricourt-1 ; Héricourt-2
Community association	Pays d'Héricourt
Coordinates	47 ° 35 ' N , 6 ° 46' E Coordinates: 47 ° 35 ' N , 6 ° 46' E
height	320-541 m
surface	21.04 km 2
Residents	10,601 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	504 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	70400
INSEE code	70285
Website	http://www.hericourt.com/

Hericourt is a French commune in the department of Haute-Saône in the region Bourgogne Franche-Comté . It belongs to the cantons of Héricourt-1 and Héricourt-2 in the Arrondissement of Lure . Héricourt is the second largest city in the Haute-Saône department and an industrial location in the Belfort-Montbéliard agglomeration.

It was created with effect from January 1, 2019 as a commune nouvelle by merging the former municipalities Héricourt and Tavey . The status of a Commune déléguée in the new municipality was given to Tavey and the former municipalities of Bussurel and Byans, which had been associated with Héricourt as Commune associée since 1973 . The administrative headquarters are in Héricourt.

geography

Héricourt is located at an altitude of 330 m above sea level, about eight kilometers north of the city of Montbéliard and ten kilometers southwest of Belfort (as the crow flies). The city extends in the western section of the Burgundian Gate , in a valley basin on both sides of the Lizaine , at the southern foot of Mont Vaudois.

The area of the 18.08 km² municipal area includes a section in the area of the Burgundian Gate. The central part of the area is occupied by the Héricourt Basin, which has a diameter of about three kilometers and averages 340 m. This basin, filled with sediments, so-called alluvions, forms the main settlement area of Héricourt. It is traversed from northwest to southeast by the Lizaine, which provides drainage over the Allan to the Doubs . In the basin flow from the west of de l'Etang Ruisseau and the Ruisseau des Epenottes , east of de Ruisseau Brevilliers .

The basin of Héricourt is flanked in the south and east by hills and plateaus, which are predominantly forested and tower over the valley floor by a maximum of 100 m. They consist mainly of limestone from the upper Jurassic period . In the east are the Bois du Salamon (385 m) and the Bois du Mont Dannin (443 m), in the south the heights of Vyans. In the northwest, the basin is bounded by the ridges of a resistant limestone layer from the middle Jurassic period, which slopes steeply on its north side. The northern municipal boundary runs on the crest of these heights; west of the Lizaine valley of the Grand Bois (495 m), east of it the Mont Vaudois , on which the highest point of Héricourt is reached at 541 m.

To the southeast, the municipality extends down the Lizainetal almost to the outskirts of Montbéliard. The valley has a flat valley floor at most one kilometer wide, through which the Lizaine meanders. It is flanked by plateau-like heights that reach up to 400 m above sea level.

former town hall in the Bussurel district

Several settlements and hamlets belong to Héricourt, namely:

Cité des Chenevières (350 m), district on the northern outskirts

Cité Dollfus (335 m), district on the southern outskirts

La Tuilerie (340 m) on the Ruisseau de l'Étang on the western outskirts

Saint-Valbert (338 m) on the Lizaine between the heights of Grand Bois and Mont Vaudois

Byans (345 m), incorporated in 1972, on the Ruisseau de l'Étang at the southern foot of the Grand Bois

Bussurel (328 m), incorporated in 1972, street- lined village in the valley of the Lizaine between Héricourt and Montbéliard

Neighboring municipalities of Héricourt are Couthenans , Luze and Échenans-sous-Mont-Vaudois in the north, Brevilliers in the east, Bethoncourt , Laire , Montbéliard and Vyans-le-Val in the south and Verlans and Coisevaux in the west.

history

Héricourt, tower of the former castle

The municipality of Héricourt was populated very early. Remains of a refuge and several tumuli on Mont Vaudois, a Roman country estate near Bussurel and a Roman road near Saint-Valbert are evidence of settlement during the Gallo-Roman period . A burial ground near Saint-Valbert was also discovered from Burgundian times.

The first written mention of Héricourt took place in 1173 under the name Oyricourt . The place name is probably composed of the word components oroe (border) and curtis (courtyard). The spelling Hericourt has been handed down since 1282 . The settlement of Héricourt developed on the road from Burgundy to Sundgau . The first castle was built towards the end of the 12th century and Héricourt became a castle town. In the 14th century the town was granted freedom rights. The rule of Héricourt was initially under the sovereignty of the Dukes of Burgundy, but passed through an inheritance in 1397 to the Counts of Mömpelgard .

Héricourt has often been the scene of fights and battles throughout history. On November 11, 1425, the city was captured by the Prince-Bishop of Basel and affected. With the Battle of Héricourt in November 1474, the first military clashes between Charles the Bold of Burgundy and the Confederates took place . With the introduction of the Reformation, Héricourt became Protestant around 1565. In 1676 Héricourt was annexed and occupied by the troops of the French King Louis XIV , who remained stationed here until 1697. The town then remained under the sovereignty of the Principality of Montbéliard before it finally came under contract to the French crown in 1748. In the relevant treaty, France had given the previous sovereign, the Duke of Württemberg, a. a. the status quo of the Lutheran Church assured. After the French Revolution , Héricourt was assigned to the newly formed Haute-Saône department and thus definitively separated politically and administratively from the Montbéliard region.

Héricourt experienced a first change of territory in 1808, when Saint-Valbert, which in the Middle Ages was the location of a Benedictine priory mentioned in 985 and dependent on Luxeuil , was incorporated. During the Franco-Prussian War , the area around Héricourt was one of the scenes of the Battle of the Lizaine , which lasted from January 15 to 17, 1871. Subsequently, the fort was built on Mont Vaudois from 1874 to 1877, which belonged to the fortification belt of Belfort and Montbéliard and to the protection of the plains of the Burgundian Gate. The city was also fought over during the Second World War . In June 1940 it was affected by air raids and the textile factory was destroyed. Thereafter, Héricourt was occupied by German troops until it fell back into the hands of French troops on November 18, 1944 after heavy fighting and heavy shelling of the Fort du Mont Vaudois.

As early as the 18th century, the former agricultural town developed into an industrial location, whereby it was initially mainly characterized by the textile industry and later also by metal processing. With the opening of the railway line from Belfort to Montbéliard, Héricourt was connected to the French railway network in 1858. Another change of area took place on New Year's Eve 1972 with the incorporation of the formerly independent communities Byans and Bussurel to Héricourt. Since 2001, Héricourt has been the administrative center of the Pays d'Héricourt municipal association .

Population distribution and development

District	former INSEE code	Area (km²)	Altitude (m)	Population (Census)
District	former INSEE code	Area (km²)	Altitude (m)	1851	1901	1954	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006 ¹	2008 ²	2011 ¹	2013 ²	2016 ¹
Héricourt00	70285	18.08	320-541	3,770	6.230	6,794	7.160	7,485	8,578	10,014	9,742	10.133	10,361	10,547	10,239	9,896	10.142
Tavey	70497	2.96	336-448	214	248	203	215	250	275	360	337	330	394	407	471	496	504
Bussurel	70108	*		342	267	289	352	398	incorporated into Héricourt on December 31, 1972
Byans	70110	*		147	125	101	99	104	incorporated into Héricourt on December 31, 1972
Héricourt	70285	21.04		04,473	06,870	07,387	07,826	08,237	08,853	10,374	10,079	10,463	10,755	10,954	10,710	10,392	10,646

* The area of the two former municipalities is already included in the area of Héricourt

¹ Data from INSEE (RP2006, RP2011, RP2016)

² Data from INSEE (RP2008, RP2013)

^• other data from Cassini

The (total) population of the municipality of Héricourt was calculated by adding the individual districts, i. H. of the municipalities that were independent by the end of 2018

With 10,601 inhabitants (January 1, 2017), Héricourt is the second largest city in the Haute-Saône department. Héricourt recorded a first phase with high growth rates in the last quarter of the 19th century, when the population doubled within around 25 years. In the first half of the 20th century, there were various economic fluctuations, but the population always moved in the range between 5500 and 6800 people. A renewed continuous growth began around 1950. With the incorporation of Byans (1968: 104 inhabitants) and Bussurel (1968: 398 inhabitants), the population rose sharply in 1972. The rapid increase continued through the 1970s, so that in 1982 the limit of 10,000 people was exceeded for the first time. After that there was stagnation and finally a decline, but at 3%, it was relatively small compared to other municipalities in the Montbéliard basin. Since the beginning of the 1990s, a slight upward trend can be observed again.

Economy and Infrastructure

From early on, Héricourt was primarily a town characterized by trade and commerce, in which the products of the surrounding agricultural area were also processed and sold. Today, as an industrial location, Héricourt is somewhat overshadowed by its much larger neighbors Montbéliard and Belfort, but it has a well-developed infrastructure and performs central functions for the surrounding area.

Long-established industry and commerce occupy the south and east of the city center. Further industrial and commercial zones, which have been created since around 1950, are located near the train station and along the main traffic axes, especially on the road to Belfort. Many different industries are represented in Héricourt: metalworking (oxycoupage), mechanical and micromechanical, surface treatment, construction, transport and precision engineering. There are numerous other jobs in the tertiary sector, in supermarkets, numerous retail stores, in the hospitality industry as well as in administration, in banking and insurance.

The city has two colleges, a grammar school, a vocational school center, a music school and is the location of a cultural center and other cultural institutions.

Héricourt has good transport links. It is located on the motorway-like main road D438, which leads from the A36 motorway near Belfort to Lure . The city center is relieved of through traffic by a bypass. The closest connection to the A36 motorway is around 10 km away. Further national road connections exist with Montbéliard, L'Isle-sur-le-Doubs and Villersexel . Héricourt has a train station on the Dole – Montbéliard – Belfort railway line . The city is connected to the surrounding villages by bus routes.

Attractions

Towers, in front of the Lutheran, behind the Catholic Church

Héricourt Town Hall

Lutheran church in the Bussurel district

The Lutheran town church Saint-Christophe von Héricourt was built in the 13th century in the Gothic style and extensively restored and redesigned in the 16th and 18th centuries. Restoration and redesign in 1784 were among the construction work on twenty churches in the county and once dependent areas, which were rebuilt or renewed on behalf of Karl Eugen during his long reign. The town church of Saint-Christophe has an important interior, including numerous tombstones. The parish belongs to the Lutheran parish association Le Mont Vaudois with eleven others . From 1700 to 1887 the Lutherans had to leave the choir room to the Catholics before they built their own church. Close to the church is the Musée Minal, which opened in 1923 and mainly exhibits collections of pictures, photos and sculptures. The neo-Gothic Catholic Church of Saint-Christophe houses a statue of the Blessed Virgin from the 14th century. Another Lutheran church, built in 1834/1835, is located in the Bussurel district.

The oldest building in the city is the former medieval castle, which was built in the 12th century on a limestone ledge in the north of the settlement. It was largely demolished in the 18th century, but the mighty square tower has been preserved and restored. In the old town there are various town houses, some of which date back to the 16th century. The Hôtel de Ville (town hall) dates from the 18th century. The Fontaine-Lavoir du Savourot was built in the center in 1841 and is covered with a portico supported by 25 columns .