Montécheroux
Montécheroux | ||
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region | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | |
Department | Doubs | |
Arrondissement | Montbeliard | |
Canton | Maîche | |
Community association | Pays de Maîche | |
Coordinates | 47 ° 21 ' N , 6 ° 48' E | |
height | 420-830 m | |
surface | 13.13 km 2 | |
Residents | 557 (January 1, 2017) | |
Population density | 42 inhabitants / km 2 | |
Post Code | 25190 | |
INSEE code | 25393 | |
Mairie Montécheroux |
Montécheroux is a French municipality with 557 inhabitants (as of January 1 2017) in Doubs in the region Bourgogne Franche-Comté .
geography
Montécheroux is located at 657 m , four kilometers north of Saint-Hippolyte and about 18 kilometers south of the city of Montbéliard (as the crow flies). The village extends in the Jura , on the high plateau of the Lomont at the southwestern foot of the height of the Fort du Lomont, north of the deeply cut Doube valley .
The area of the 13.13 km² large municipality covers a section of the French Jura. The main part of the area is occupied by the high plateau of the Lomont, which is an average of 650 m. It consists mainly of meadow land, but also shows some larger forest areas. The plateau has no above-ground watercourses because the rainwater seeps into the karstified subsoil. To the south, the plateau drops steeply to the Doubs, which is almost 300 m lower, with the municipality boundary mostly running above the steep slope crowned by a ledge. In the west, too, a step leads to the lower terrace of Clémont, which is placed as a witness mountain at the height of the Motte de Clémont ( 650 m ). The Clémont terrace is divided by two erosion valleys that open to the west towards the Doubs.
To the north, the municipal area extends over the slope of Montécheroux ( Côte des Trimoulots ) to the wide ridge of the Lomont chain with the Mont Écheroux ( 820 m ). From a geological and tectonic point of view, this chain forms an anticline of the Jura folds , which extends in a west-east direction. At 830 m, the highest point in Montécheroux is reached in the area of Fort du Lomont .
The hamlet of Clémont ( 600 m ) at the foot of the Motte de Clémont above the Doubstal and various individual farms belong to Montécheroux . Neighboring municipalities of Montécheroux are Pont-de-Roide-Vermondans and Pierrefontaine-lès-Blamont in the north, Chamesol in the east, Saint-Hippolyte and Liebvillers in the south and Noirefontaine in the west.
history
Montécheroux is first mentioned in a document in 1040 under the name Monte Escherolo . Since the Middle Ages, the village has belonged to the Clémont domain (owned by the Lords of Neuchâtel ), of which it became the capital after the Clémont Castle was destroyed in 1519. The rule had been under the sovereignty of the Principality of Württemberg-Mömpelgard (Montbéliard) since 1506 and came under French administration in accordance with the treaty 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. The village of Clémont has belonged to Montécheroux since around 1800. In 1776, the production of pliers was introduced in Montécheroux, which was mechanized from the second half of the 19th century and shaped the economic life of the town for a long time. The watch industry also gained a certain importance.
Attractions
The Lutheran Church (Temple), which had been devastated in 1636, was rebuilt in 1650 in the classical style. The nave of the church was rebuilt larger in 1774, one of the construction work on twenty churches in Württemberg-Mömpelgard and once dependent areas, which were rebuilt or renovated on behalf of Karl Eugen during his long reign. One of the oldest houses in Montécheroux is that of the Cuvier family, which dates back to 1461 and where Georges Cuvier grew up. Various farmhouses from the 17th to 19th centuries in the traditional Franche-Comté style have been preserved in the town center. The craft of making pliers is shown in the Musée de la Pince . Only a few remains of the walls of the former Clémont castle, which stood on a hill west of the Lomont plateau, are still visible.
population
Population development | |
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year | Residents |
1962 | 548 |
1968 | 550 |
1975 | 542 |
1982 | 571 |
1990 | 548 |
1999 | 545 |
2016 | 569 |
With 557 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017), Montécheroux is one of the small communities in the Doubs department. After the population had decreased markedly in the first half of the 20th century (1012 people were still counted in 1886), only minor fluctuations have been recorded since the early 1960s.
Economy and Infrastructure
As early as the 19th century, Montécheroux was not only influenced by agriculture (cattle breeding and dairy farming, some arable and fruit growing) but also by industrial activities such as tool (especially pliers) and clock production. In addition, there are now other local small businesses. Many workers are also commuters who work in the surrounding larger towns.
The municipality is located off the major thoroughfares on a departmental road that leads from Saint-Hippolyte to Pierrefontaine-lès-Blamont. Further road connections exist with Chamesol, Liebvillers and Noirefontaine.
Personalities
- Georges Cuvier (1769–1832), natural scientist and educational politician
- Lucien Quélet (1832–1899), naturalist
literature
- Le Patrimoine des Communes du Doubs. Volume 2, Flohic Editions, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-84234-087-6 , pp. 1254-1257.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See "Histoire Religieuse" , on: "Bienvenue à Villars les Blamont" , accessed on January 25, 2016.
- ↑ Georges-Frédéric Goguel, Précis historique de la Réformation et des églises protestantes dans l'ancien comté de Montbéliard et ses dépendances , Paris: Marc-Aurel frères, 1841, p. 148.