Méracq

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Méracq
Méracq (France)
Méracq
region Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement Pau
Canton Artix and Pays de Soubestre
Community association Luys en Bearn
Coordinates 43 ° 31 ′  N , 0 ° 23 ′  W Coordinates: 43 ° 31 ′  N , 0 ° 23 ′  W
height 109–245 m
surface 8.24 km 2
Residents 229 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 28 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 64410
INSEE code 64380

Méracq town hall

Méracq is a French municipality with 229 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine (before 2016: Aquitaine ). The community belongs to the Arrondissement Pau and Canton Artix et Pays de Soubestre (2015: Canton Arzacq-Arraziguet ).

geography

Méracq is located about 25 km north of Pau in the historic province of Béarn on the northern edge of the department.

Méracq is surrounded by the neighboring communities:

Vignes Coublucq
Mialos Neighboring communities Pouliacq
Séby Auga Leme

Méracq is located in the catchment area of ​​the Adour River . One of its tributaries, the Louts , crosses the municipality in the eastern part. The Luy de France flows along the south-western border to the neighboring communities of Mialos and Séby.

history

Méracq was a village of the Vicomté of Louvigny , which had broken out of the Duchy of Gascony . Subsequently it belonged to the Vicomté of Tursam and the subdistrict of Saint-Sever in the Landes.

Toponyms and mentions of Méracq were:

  • Meirac (13th century, fors de Béarn , manuscript from the 14th century),
  • Honerac (1538, manuscript collection from the 16th to 18th centuries),
  • Lo Merac (1546, documents from the Vicomté of Béarn),
  • Loumeracq (1750 and 1793, map by Cassini or Notice Communale ),
  • Meracq (1801, Bulletin des lois ) and
  • Méracq or Louméracq (1863, Dictionnaire topographique Béarn-Pays basque).

Population development

After a peak in the number of inhabitants of around 610 in the first half of the 19th century, the number fell to around 200 during short periods of recovery by the 1960s, which is still the case today.

year 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2009 2017
Residents 200 208 192 202 210 210 206 206 229
From 1962 official figures excluding residents with a second residence
Sources: EHESS / Cassini until 1999, INSEE from 2006

Attractions

Parish church du Cœur Immaculé de Marie
  • Parish Church of Méracq, dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary . It was built in the center of the parish in 1937 to replace the former parish church. Extensive rebuilding and renovation work was carried out on the old church in the 19th century, but the community decided to build a new one afterwards. A window in the apse of the earlier church from the 15th or 16th century has been reused in the wall of the new church building. The entrance portal under the porch of the new church is a copy of the old portal. The current single-nave nave is flanked by a side chapel and is closed to the northeast with a bell gable and to the southwest with a three-walled apse. The sacristy is to the right of the apse.
  • Former parish church. Part of its 12th or 13th century bell tower is from an earlier church that may have served as a cemetery church. Most of the building, nave and apse, date from the 15th century, a side aisle was added in 1648, the buttresses and the sacristy probably in the 18th century. In the 19th century the church was considered obsolete and the current parish church was built elsewhere. In 2007 the outside of this church was restored.
  • Castle of Méracq. The manor house was built in the 17th century in the Marioulet district. It is a rectangular building with a triangular gable on the main facade and two flanking square towers. The door of the left tower from 1604, which has lost its function as a stair tower , is now inside the building. An oak in the castle park bears the inscription in French “Oak, planted in 1794 at the birth of Catherine, whose grandfather Paul-Alexis de Labernade, the bodyguard of Louis XV. was guillotined the next day ”. Catherine, who was the last successor to be named de Labernade, died in 1874. There is a cemetery chapel on the property in which Louis Bernard Bonnefène, who died in 1926, was buried. He had been mayor of the community and donated the memorial in honor of those who died in World War I during his tenure . The castle was redesigned in the 18th century, and numerous changes took place in the 19th and 20th centuries. After its function as a manor house, it was successively privately owned, a medical facility and is now a hotel.
Cenotaph for the fallen
  • Cenotaph for the dead. The mayor of the municipality donated the monument, which was created by the sculptor Cros-Lassalle from Pau. A statue of Joan of Arc , waving a standard, stands on an obelisk that rests on a pedestal. At the foot of the obelisk, a soldier from the front is lying on his side with a sad look, leaning on his rifle, which he is holding in his right hand. Below, on another plinth, the weeping widow kneels. On another base, which is part of the fence, rises a Latin cross , decorated with weapons and a laurel wreath , symbol of victory. The motto Pro Patria ( German  'For the Fatherland' ) is engraved on the cross. Among the list of the municipality's twenty fallen in World War I, the inscription reads “aux enfants de Méracq soldats de la Grande Guerre morts pour la France” ( German  , “For the children of Méracq, soldiers of the great war, died for France” ). The memorial was publicly blessed and inaugurated on June 6, 1924.

Economy and Infrastructure

Agriculture is traditionally the most important economic factor in the municipality.

Active workplaces by industry on December 31, 2015
total = 24

education

Méracq has a public primary school with 21 pupils in the 2017/2018 school year.

traffic

Méracq is crossed by Route départementale 944, the former Route nationale 644 .

Web links

Commons : Méracq  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ma commune: Méracq ( fr ) Système d'Information sur l'Eau du Bassin Adour Garonne. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  2. ↑ Conseil régional d'Aquitaine: Méracq ( fr ) Visites en Aquitaine. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 18, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / visites.aquitaine.fr
  3. ^ A b Paul Raymond: Dictionnaire topographique du département des Basses-Pyrénées ( fr ) In: Dictionnaire topographique de la France . Imprimerie nationale. P. 112, 1863. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  4. ^ David Rumsey Historical Map Collection France 1750 ( en ) David Rumsey Map Collection: Cartography Associates. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b Notice Communale Méracq ( fr ) EHESS . Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  6. ↑ Populations légales 2006 Commune de Méracq (64380) ( fr ) INSEE . Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  7. ↑ Populations légales 2014 Commune de Méracq (64380) ( fr ) INSEE . Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  8. ↑ Eglise du Cœur Immaculé de Marie ( fr ) Visites en Aquitaine. Retrieved on September 18, 2017.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / visites.aquitaine.fr  
  9. ↑ église paroissiale Coeur-Immaculé-de-Marie ( fr ) Ministry of Culture and Communication . Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  10. ↑ Église Saint-Julien de Brioude ( fr ) Visites en Aquitaine. Retrieved on September 18, 2017.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / visites.aquitaine.fr  
  11. ↑ Manoir du XVIIe siècle ( fr ) Visites en Aquitaine. Retrieved on September 18, 2017.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / visites.aquitaine.fr  
  12. ↑ Monument aux morts de Méracq ( fr ) Visites en Aquitaine. Retrieved on September 18, 2017.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / visites.aquitaine.fr  
  13. ↑ Caractéristiques des établissements en 2015 Commune de Méracq (64380) ( fr ) INSEE . Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  14. ^ École élémentaire ( fr ) National Ministry of Education. Retrieved September 18, 2017.