Saint-André-de-Valborgne

Saint-André-de-Valborgne
region	Occitania
Department	Gard
Arrondissement	Le Vigan
Canton	Le Vigan
Community association	Causses Aigoual Cevennes
Coordinates	44 ° 9 '  N , 3 ° 41'  E Coordinates: 44 ° 9 '  N , 3 ° 41'  E
height	339-1,200 m
surface	48.71 km 2
Residents	382 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	8 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	30940
INSEE code	30231
The Gardon de Saint-Jean in the center of the village

Saint-André-de-Valborgne is a French commune with 382 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Gard department in the Occitanie region . It belongs to the Arrondissement of Le Vigan and the Canton of Le Vigan .

geography

The municipality of Saint-André-de-Valborgne is located in the Cevennes mountains and is located 64 kilometers north of Montpellier and 65 kilometers northwest of Nîmes as the crow flies . It is part of a sparsely populated area around Mont Aigoual, nine kilometers away . Its relatively large area borders on the neighboring Lozère department to the north and west .

The landscape of the area is characterized by several mountain ridges and ranges of hills; the highest point in the municipality is 1,200 meters above sea level. On the other hand, a valley stretches along the Gardon de Saint-Jean , which flows through Saint-André-de-Valborgne shortly after its mouth and has various small tributaries there. The core town is located in the middle of the river valley.

The neighboring municipalities of Saint-André-de-Valborgne are Le Pompidou and Gabriac in the north, Sainte-Croix-Vallée-Française in the northeast, Moissac-Vallée-Française and Saumane in the east, Les Plantiers in the south, Val-d'Aigoual with Valleraugue in the southwest and Bassurels in the west.

Infrastructure

The road D907 , which runs along the Gardon through the municipality, connects in a south-easterly direction via Saint-Jean-du-Gard and Anduze to the greater Alès area, while it leads in the opposite direction to Florac . In contrast, the D10 goes up the mountain as a pass road and allows access to the valley of the southern village of Valleraugue.

History and culture

The first written mention of the place came in 1275 when a parish was named parrochia sancti-andreae de Vallebornes . The village church, which corresponds to the Romanesque architectural style, probably dates from around this time . In the early phase of its existence it consisted of a nave and an apse , later two chapels were added. The medieval castle was also nearby; the village developed around these two important buildings at that time.

From the 16th century, Protestantism spread throughout the region and played a very strong role. Therefore, the village church was temporarily used to practice this religious direction before the Protestants received their own house of prayer in 1635. It was also the same religious group that built the town's clock tower in 1573. During the Cevennes Wars of 1702 and 1705, during which the Protestant camisards revolted against the state, the place was occupied by French troops and became the scene of fighting between the warring parties.

Saint-André experienced a heyday in the 18th and 19th centuries, when silkworm breeding was very important. This changed the image of the place not only because of the mulberry trees necessary for cultivation , but also because of the growing prosperity. The latter expressed itself mainly in representative bourgeois houses. The decline of this branch of industry around 1900 is considered to be a trigger for the massive decline in population that followed. In 1953 the hamlet of Tourgueille , which was formerly part of the neighboring community of Les Plantiers, was incorporated into the municipality.

The modern Saint-André is strongly geared towards nature-based tourism and, in addition to various accommodation options, offers a variety of hiking trails through the Cevennes.

Population development

year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2008	2017
Residents	670	524	429	443	437	368	456	382

A source from 1552 shows that a little more than 1,600 people lived in the community at that time. In the further course of the centuries there was an overall slight increase until 1806 with 1,949 inhabitants, the historical high was reached. The number then shrank at a moderate rate, so that exactly one hundred years later, 1,541 people were still statistically recorded. From the 1920s, however, a rapid decline set in, and in the following decade the value fell into the three-digit range and continued to decline. 1999 was the historical low with 368 inhabitants, which was less than a quarter of the population at the beginning of the century. Since then there has been an increase again.

Web links

Commons : Saint-André-de-Valborgne  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mairie de Saint-André-de-Valborgne , annuaire-mairie.fr
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Le charme de Saint-André de Valborgne , valle-borgne.org
3. ↑ Au confluent des deux borgnes: Les Plantiers ( Memento of the original of July 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) 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. , vallee-borgne.org 
4. ↑ Saint-André-de-Valborgne - Notice Communale , cassini.ehess.fr