Aydius

Aydius
Aydius
Location within Aquitaine region Aydius
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Canton	Accous
Intercommunality	Vallée d'Aspe
Government
• Mayor (2014–2020)	Bernard Choy
Area1	34.72 km2 (13.41 sq mi)
Population (2010)2	100
• Density	2.9/km2 (7.5/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	64085 / 64490
Elevation	551–2,173 m (1,808–7,129 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Aydius is a French commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Aquitaine region of south-western France.

Geography

Aydius is located some 25 km south by south-east of Oloron-Sainte-Marie just east of Bedous. Access to the commune is by the D237 road from Bedous which goes to the village and terminates there. The commune is alpine in nature with extensive forests, rugged terrain and snow-capped mountains in the east.

The Gabarret river rises in the east of the commune and flows west gathering a large number of tributaries including the Ruisseau d'Arces, the Ruisseau du Saslars, the Gave de Béranfueil, the Gave de Bouren, the Ruisseau d'Ilhiec, the Ruisseau Sarité, the Ruisseau de Traillère, and the Ruisseau de Sahun (which forms part of the western border of the commune) before flowing west to join the Gave d'Aspe at Bedous.

Places and Hamlets

• Anire
• L’Ardoisière
• Arès (barn)
• Arques (forest)
• Las Arretortes (Cap de)
• Les Arrouyes
• Baich (Rangole de)
• Barca
• Barrada
• Bat (barn)
• Bat (bridge)
• Bérangueil
• Bérie (bank)
• Bérouste (Serrot de)
• Bésur (cabin)
• Bouren
• Cachiquet (cabin)
• Calhabets (Pas de)
• Capdarest
• Capdevielle
• Capouret
• Carn de Haut (bank)
• Casaubon
• Les Catiasses (forest)
• Chechit
• Core de Cam
• Cot de Picars (alley)
• La Courade (Col de)
• Courdé
• Courrège Longue
• Cret Arrouy (Cap de)
• Escarrebirats (Pas d’)
• Escourau (bank)
• Escut (forest)
• Guérègne
• Haut (Rangole de)
• Hourquet Roes (cabin)
• Les Ichantes
• Ichantes (forest)
• Illes (bank)
• Le Labay
• Lacazette
• Lacazotte
• Laresse
• Lartigalot
• Latoussé (Pènes des)
• Lespy
• Luc (barn)
• Manautton
• Mariebère (forest)
• Mirande
• Mousquaté (forest)
• Mousté (Col de)
• Pée Nouqué (ruins)
• Pouey
• La Poueye (Hosse de)
• Salaneuve (ruins)
• Les Salars
• Sarrelangue
• Sartiat (forest)
• Sézy (barn)
• Soumaous (Hosse de)
• Tousset
• l’Usclat (forest)

Toponymy

The commune name in Gascon is Aidius. Michel Grosclaude said that the name probably comes from the same root as Aydie but its origin and meaning remain obscure.

The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.

Name	Spelling	Date	Source	Page	Origin	Description
Aydius	Aydius	1385	Grosclaude			Village
	Lo temple de Sent Martin d'Aydius	1590	Raymond	18	Register of Aydius, BB, i, folio 3
	Aydius	1750	Cassini
Anire	Amire	1385	Raymond	6	Census	Farm
	Anire	1863	Raymond	6
Le Col des Arques	Le Col des Arques	1863	Raymond	11		Pass from Aydius to Gère-Bélesten
Les Arrouyes	Les Arrouyes	1863	Raymond	13		Mountain
Barca	Barca	1863	Raymond	21		Mountain
Le Béranguet	Le Béranguet	1863	Raymond	28		Stream
Le Bouren	Le Bouren	1863	Raymond	35		Stream
Les Ichantes	Les Ichantes	1863	Raymond	81		Hamlet
L’Illecq	L’Illecq	1863	Raymond	82		Stream
Les Jaupins	Les Jaupins	1863	Raymond	85		Hamlet
Mariebère	Marie-Bère	1863	Raymond	108		Mountain
Bois de Mousquaté	Mousquété	1863	Raymond	119		Forest
Mousté	Mousté	1863	Raymond	120		Mountain on the border with Sarrance
Col de Pian	Le Col de Pian	1863	Raymond	135		Pass to Bedous
Col de Picas	Le Col de Picas	1863	Raymond	135		Mountain Pass
Salars	Les Salars	1863	Raymond	153		Hamlet

Sources:

• Grosclaude: Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, 2006 (French)
• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (French)
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750

Origins:

• Census: Census of Béarn

History

A rock shelter dating from prehistory called Abri Gandon-Lassus has been discovered in the commune.

Paul Raymond noted on page 18 of his 1863 disctionary that the commune had a Lay Abbey, vassal of the Viscounts of Béarn and that in 1385 there were 30 fires and Aydius depended on the bailiwick of Aspe.

Administration

List of Successive Mayors

From	To	Name	Party	Position
1995	2014	Bernard Bourguinat
2014	2020	Bernard Choy

(Not all data is known)

Inter-communality

The commune is part of four inter-communal structures:

• the Community of communes of Vallée d'Aspe;
• the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques;
• the inter-communal association for aid to education in the Vallée d'Aspe;
• the joint association for Haut-Béarn.

Demography

In 2010 the commune had 100 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known from the population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. From the 21st century, a census of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger communes that have a sample survey every year.

Population Change (See database)

1793	1800	1806	1821	1831	1836	1841	1846	1851
685	726	701	891	847	822	833	890	813

1856	1861	1866	1872	1876	1881	1886	1891	1896
855	735	695	715	694	613	586	541	526

1901	1906	1911	1921	1926	1931	1936	1946	1954
520	518	489	349	283	268	241	181	137

1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006	2010	-
98	88	94	67	74	80	100	100	-

Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1962, INSEE database from 1968 (population without double counting and municipal population from 2006)

Population of Aydius

Economy

The economy of the commune is mainly focused towards agriculture and livestock. The commune is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and heritage

Civil heritage

The commune has many sites that are registered as historical monuments:

• The Maison Guiraudé (1891)
• The Maison Pualet (16th century)
• The Maison Hontas (18th century)
• The Abri Gandon-Lassus Prehistoric Cave (Prehistory)
• The Maison Ichante (1807)
• The Maison Casaubon (18th century)

Religious heritage

• The Parish Church of Saint Martin (14th century) is registered as an historical monument.

Environmental heritage

Aydie contains a number of high mountains:

• The Sommet de Tachat (1,408 metres),
• The Sommet de Talabot (1,591 metres),
• The Sommet de Pétraube (1,606 metres,
• The Sommet de Houndarete (1,695 metres),
• The Soum de la Mousquère (1,778 metres,
• The Turon de la Goaita (1,805 metres,
• The Lousquette de Barca (1,870 metres,
• The Pic de Lariou (1,903 metres, and
• The Mailh Bassibe (1,973 metres.

Notable people linked to the commune

• Pierre Loustaunau, a General in India

See also

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

Bibliography

In his book L'ours et les brebis (The Bear and the sheep), Etienne Lamazou recounted his life as a transhumant shepherd from 1913 to 1969. Originally from Aydius, he never left except to take his cattle to their winter plain. He recounted the life of a shepherd as it still existed at the beginning of the 20th century. All the action takes place in and around Aydius and the book has many thousands of anecdotes sometimes soothing, sometimes moving, and often instructive.

External links

• Aydius on Lion1906
• Aydius on the 1750 Cassini Map
• Aydius on the INSEE website (French)
• INSEE (French)