Aubigny-les-Pothées (French pronunciation: [obiɲi le pɔte], before 1962: Aubigny)[3] is a commune in the Ardennes department in the Grand Est region of northern France.

Aubigny-les-Pothées
The School
The School
Coat of arms of Aubigny-les-Pothées
Location of Aubigny-les-Pothées
Map
Aubigny-les-Pothées is located in France
Aubigny-les-Pothées
Aubigny-les-Pothées
Aubigny-les-Pothées is located in Grand Est
Aubigny-les-Pothées
Aubigny-les-Pothées
Coordinates: 49°46′37″N 4°26′12″E / 49.7769°N 4.4367°E / 49.7769; 4.4367
CountryFrance
RegionGrand Est
DepartmentArdennes
ArrondissementCharleville-Mézières
CantonSigny-l'Abbaye
IntercommunalityCC Ardennes Thiérache
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Alain Malherbe[1]
Area
1
10.42 km2 (4.02 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
306
 • Density29/km2 (76/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
08026 /08150
Elevation177–294 m (581–965 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Geography

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Entrance to the village

Aubigny-les-Pothées is located some 25 km west of Charleville-Mézières and 13 km north of Signy-l'Abbaye. Access to the commune is by road D978 from Logny-Bogny in the west which passes through the commune and the village and continues east to Rouvroy-sur-Audry. The D985 branches off the D978 at the eastern border of the commune and goes south to Signy-l'Abbaye. The minor D20 road goes north from the village to Auvillers-les-Forges. A railway line passes through the commune from east to west but there is no station in the commune. The nearest station is at Liart to the west. The commune is mixed forest and farmland.[4]

The Audry river flows through the commune and the village from west to east and continues east to join the Sormonne south of Sormonne.[4]

Neighbouring communes and villages

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[4]

History

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The Church used as a hospital in the First World War

Two Merovingian cemeteries have been identified in the commune: one at a place called Bocmont, the other at a place called Croix-Ancelet. The bodies showed the characteristic positioning of arms along the body and legs separated which predominated in the region in the 6th and 7th centuries.[5]

In the 13th century the village was the main town in les Potées ecclesiastical domain which was a possession of the chapter of Reims.[6] The letter h in Pothées was introduced later. Aubigny was the main town of this possession.

In 1436 people from Liège burned the Chateau of Aubigny.[7]

In the early days of the First World War in 1914, the village church was a very basic hospital. Straw scattered on the ground served as a bed for the wounded.

Heraldry

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Arms of Aubigny-les-Pothées
Blazon:

Azure, a cross of Argent cantoned with four fleurs-de-lis of Or.



Administration

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The Town Hall

List of Successive Mayors[8]

From To Name
1883 Nicolas Armand Lecerre
1953 Claude Béroard
2001 current Alain Malherbe

Aubigny-les-Pothées has adhered to the charter of the Regional Natural Park of the Ardennes since its creation in December 2011.

Demography

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The inhabitants of the commune are known as Aubignois or Aubignoises in French.[9]

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1793 345—    
1800 417+2.74%
1806 378−1.62%
1821 364−0.25%
1831 417+1.37%
1836 380−1.84%
1841 347−1.80%
1846 379+1.78%
1851 401+1.13%
1866 414+0.21%
1872 419+0.20%
1876 425+0.36%
1881 401−1.16%
1886 402+0.05%
1891 400−0.10%
1896 373−1.39%
1901 382+0.48%
YearPop.±% p.a.
1906 411+1.47%
1911 418+0.34%
1921 358−1.54%
1926 380+1.20%
1931 362−0.97%
1936 385+1.24%
1946 304−2.33%
1954 350+1.78%
1962 375+0.87%
1968 410+1.50%
1975 392−0.64%
1982 360−1.21%
1990 319−1.50%
1999 319+0.00%
2007 341+0.84%
2012 350+0.52%
2017 315−2.09%
Source: EHESS[10] and INSEE[11]

Sites and monuments

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Notable people linked to the commune

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  • Edouard Piette (1827-1906) Archaeologist and pre-historian, born in Aubigny-les-Pothées

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ Décret du 3 avril 1962 portant changement de noms de communes, Journal officiel de la République française n° 0085, 8 April 1962, p. 3677.
  4. ^ a b c Google Maps
  5. ^ Patrick Perin, Historic Review of Ardennes, No. 5, 1971, pp. 22-25 (in French)
  6. ^ Octave Guelliot, Traditional and Popular geography of Ardennes, Librairie Emile Nourry, 1931 (in French)
  7. ^ M. Badin, Classical and Administrative departmental geography of France, Department of Ardennes, 1848, p.163 (in French)
  8. ^ List of Mayors of France (in French)
  9. ^ Le nom des habitants du 08 - Ardennes, habitants.fr
  10. ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Aubigny-les-Pothées, EHESS (in French).
  11. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
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