Saint-Alban (Ain)
| Saint-Alban | ||
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| region | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | |
| Department | Ain | |
| Arrondissement | Nantua | |
| Canton | Pont d'Ain | |
| Community association | Rives de l'Ain-Pays du Cerdon | |
| Coordinates | 46 ° 6 ′ N , 5 ° 27 ′ E | |
| height | 376-634 m | |
| surface | 8.08 km 2 | |
| Residents | 178 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 22 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 01450 | |
| INSEE code | 01331 | |
.JPG) The Mayor's Office ( Mairie ) of Saint-Alban in Chamagnat |
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Saint-Alban is a French municipality with 178 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the Ain department in the region of Auvergne Rhône-Alpes . It is administratively assigned to the canton of Pont-d'Ain in the Arrondissement of Nantua .
geography
Saint-Alban is located at 520 m , about 21 kilometers east of the prefecture of Bourg-en-Bresse (as the crow flies) in the southern French Jura mountains. The area of the 8.08 km 2 municipal area includes part of the Montagne de Berthiand , a ridge ( anticline ) in the Bugey with an undulating plateau between the Ain valley and the Oignin valley . On the parish ground, only a few gentle hills rise about 50 m above the plateau, whereas the eastern and southern edge of the parish is defined by a terrain edge, behind which the 300 m deep gorge of Cerdon begins. Due to the porous calcareous subsoil, the rainwater seeps away quickly and there are no surface rivers in Saint-Alban.
The municipality is made up of several hamlets, none of which is called "Saint-Alban":
- Boches ( 490 m ) near the southern edge of the terrain above Cerdon
- Chamagnat ( 530 m ) is the main town of the municipality
- Coiron ( 560 m )
- Le Mortaray ( 470 m )
Instead, it was named after a pilgrims' chapel, which stood on a rock protruding into the gorge of Cerdon ( Rocher de St. Alban ). Neighboring municipalities of Saint-Alban are Challes-la-Montagne in the north, Labalme in the east, Cerdon in the south and Poncin in the west.
history
During excavations in the nearby caves of Cerdon in 1914 tools and bones from the Neolithic ( Upper Palaeolithic ) came to light . Based on the finds of ceramic fragments, fireplaces and tools also on the parish soil, it is assumed that settlements have existed in Saint-Alban since the younger pre-Roman Iron Age . The first documentary mention as Sanctus Albanus comes from the year 1144 . The villages of Boches and Le Mortarey each formed their own rule in the 14th century, which was subordinate to the Lords of Thoire-Villars. Of the permanent houses built for this purpose, only the foundation walls are preserved today. Towards the end of the 14th century, the municipality came under the sovereignty of the Counts of Savoy , and with the Treaty of Lyons it came to France in 1601.
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Attractions
The brick outer walls of a Romanesque church from the 12th century tower up on the Rocher de St. Alban rock outcrop and give the viewpoint over the Cerdon Gorge a special character. The gorge is one of the smaller Reculées in the Jura. In the steep slopes at the top of this gorge there are several caves, the Grottes du Cerdon , which can be visited during the summer months. The village church in Chamagnat is from the 19th century.
Population development
| year | Residents |
|---|---|
| 1962 | 144 |
| 1968 | 138 |
| 1975 | 114 |
| 1982 | 119 |
| 1990 | 122 |
| 1999 | 133 |
| 2006 | 175 |
| 2011 | 164 |
With 178 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017), Saint-Alban is one of the small communities in the Ain department. After the population had decreased somewhat in the first half of the 20th century (315 people were still counted in 1901), it has increased again slightly since the turn of the millennium.
Economy and Infrastructure
Until well into the 20th century, Saint-Alban was an agricultural village. Viticulture is still practiced on the parish soil today , mainly the Poulsard and Gamay varieties, which are required for the protected designation of origin Cerdon . In addition to the four winemakers (as of 2014) there are a few other small businesses, the rest of the working population are commuters who work in the larger towns in the area.
The small departmental road D85a connects the hamlets of the municipality with each other and with the neighboring municipalities of Poncin and Cerdon. The A40 motorway runs along the northern municipal border, but the nearest connection is only about 12 kilometers away in Saint-Martin-du-Frêne.
Web links
- Website of the Friends of Saint-Alban ( Les amis de Saint Alban ) , association for the promotion of cultural heritage in Saint-Alban
Individual evidence
- ↑ Géologie du Bugey chp. 3: Le center du Bugey (PDF; 4.2 MB) by J. Beauchamp (French, accessed February 2014).
- ^ André Buisson: Carte Archéologique de la Gaule - Ain 01 . Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , 1990, ISBN 2-87754-010-3 , pp. 122 (French, limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ É. Philipon: Dictionnaire Topographique du Département de l'Ain . Imprimerie Nationale, 1911, p. 49, 281, 367 (French, online [PDF; accessed January 4, 2014]).
- ↑ French Statistics Institute ( www.insee.fr )
- ↑ Saint-Alban - notice communale. In: cassini.ehess.fr. Retrieved February 5, 2014 (French, INSEE population from 1968 ).