Abancourt, Oise

Abancourt (French pronunciation: [abɑ̃kuʁ] (listen)) is a commune in the Oise department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France.[1]

Abancourt
Commune
Abancourt Railway Station 2008
Coat of arms
Location of Abancourt
Abancourt Abancourt
Coordinates: 49°41′52″N 1°45′57″E
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Oise
Arrondissement	Beauvais
Canton	Grandvilliers
Intercommunality	Picardie Verte
Government
• Mayor (2020-2026)	Jean-Louis Dor
Area ^1	6.01 km^2 (2.32 sq mi)
Population  (2018)	635
• Density	110/km^2 (270/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	60001 /60220
Elevation	170–222 m (558–728 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Abancourtois (masculine) or Abancourtoises (feminine).[2]

Geography

Abancourt is located some 40 km south-west of Amiens and some 20 km north-east of Forges-les-Eaux in the western extremity of the Oise department, on the border of the Seine-Maritime department. Access to the commune is by the D316 road from Aumale in the north passing through the commune and the village and continuing south to Blargies. The D8 goes south-west from the village to the border of Seine-Maritime where it becomes the D236 and continues south-west to Criquiers. The D7 branches off the D316 south of the village and goes south-west to Moliens. The D919 goes north-east from the village to Romescamps. Apart from the village there are the hamlets of La Montagne in the north and Hennicourt in the south. Except for a strip of forest in the west, the commune is entirely farmland.[3][4]

The Abancourt Station before 1909

Abancourt Station in 2008

A railway line passes through the east of the commune from north-east to south with Abancourt station in the south of the commune. The station is an intermediate stop on the TER Hauts-de-France Amiens to Rouen route[5] and the Le Tréport-Mers to Beauvais route[6]

The river Bresle flows north-west from Abancourt along the Formerie plateau into the English Channel at Le Tréport. This coastal river is around 68 to 72 kilometres long depending on which source is used[7] and crosses the Oise, Somme, and Seine-Maritime Departments.

Neighbouring communes

Toponymy

The area was mentioned as Abencourt in 1146, Abencurtis in 1148, Abencurt in 1150 and 1152, Habencourt in 1180, Abencourt in 1337, 1454, and in the 16th century.

One Jean and one Adrien d'Abancourt were alternately lords of Abancourt at the beginning of the 15th century.

History

Roman period

Ceramic tiles and amphoras from Abancourt's Roman period are displayed in the Beauvais museum. These were found near a hamlet on the mountain and it is assumed that there must have been a Roman camp or installation at one time. Fine red pottery, stepped and curved roof tiles nearly 50 centimetres across have been found.

On Abancourt's ancient Roman road lies a linden tree 6 metres in circumference, which was possibly the marker of a military border or a Celtic monument.[8]

Recent history

Abancourt Military Prison 1917

Abancourt Military Prison 1917

Abancourt appears as Abancourt on the 1750 Cassini Map[9] and the same on the 1790 version.[10]

The village was renamed Abancourt-la-Montagne after the French Revolution.[11] Between 1791 and 1823, the commune was reattached to Romescamps. In 1823 Abancourt was newly created as a commune from Blargies with Hennicourt added to it.[12]

In 1867 the railway came to Abancourt with the construction of Abancourt Station on the Rouen to Amiens line. It was connected directly to Le Tréport and Paris in 1873–1875.

In the First World War the main British supply ports of Le Havre and the inland port of Rouen had restricted hinterlands. It was necessary to find a location where the daily supplies, to maintain 1.3 million troops, could be marshalled and distributed. Abancourt, the junction of several key railway lines to the coast and the Somme, was chosen. Supply trains from Le Havre and Rouen disgorged their content into vast warehouses in the Abancourt complex along 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) of track. The warehouses contained enough non-perishable stores to last at least one month and dispatched twenty-two supply trains a day to the next distribution station. Today there is no obvious trace of this vast complex of warehouses and sidings.[13]

In the First World War, the British Army had a prison at Abancourt. In August 1916 a serious mutiny broke out in the prison, for which seven ring-leaders were prosecuted and at least two put to death on 29 October 1916: British Gunner Lewis, aged 30, shot at Rouen,[14] and New Zealand Private John (Jack) Braithwaite, 35 years old, shot at the prison.[15]

World War II

See

Heraldry

Arms of Abancourt

Blazon: Gules, 2 bends wavy argent, in chief a laurel crown Or, and on a canton azure 3 fleurs-de-lys Or.

Administration

Mayors

List:[16]

From	To	Name	Party	Position
	1962	Paul Rouvier
1989	2001	Nicole Lefevre
2001	2008	Emmanual Potvin	DVG
2008	Current	Jean-Louis Dor	LC	Retired

(Not all data is known)

Intercommunality

Abancourt is a member of the Community of communes of Picardie Vert,[17] which comprises the communes of Formerie, Grandvilliers, Marseille-en-Beauvaisis, and Songeons.

The commune is part of "Greater Beauvaisis", one of the sixteen constituent departments of the "Region of Hauts-de-France".

The commune participates in three inter-communal groups:

• The electrification SIVOM (syndicat intercommunal à vocations multiples; English: intercommunal syndicate of multiple vocations) of Formerie.
• The water syndicate of Blargies.
• The inter-communal syndicate of school boards of Abancourt, Blargies, and Boutavent.

Budget and fiscalism

The principal 2006 municipal budget allocated 298,000 euros to investment and 217,000 euros to services.[18]

In 2010, the poll tax (TH) collected by the commune was 3.40%, the property tax on developed properties was 22.29%, the property tax on vacant land was 21.71%, and the business tax (TP) was 11.93%.[19]

Urbanism

In 2017, 69.4% of the commune's residents were owners of their places of residence and 28.3% were tenants.[20]

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1831 615 —     1836 677 +1.94% 1841 700 +0.67% 1846 666 −0.99% 1851 664 −0.06% 1856 609 −1.71% 1861 598 −0.36% 1866 594 −0.13% 1872 595 +0.03% 1876 569 −1.11% 1881 583 +0.49% 1886 596 +0.44% 1891 555 −1.42% 1896 567 +0.43% 1901 538 −1.04% 1906 531 −0.26% 1911 546 +0.56%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1921 602 +0.98% 1926 558 −1.51% 1931 629 +2.42% 1936 603 −0.84% 1946 529 −1.30% 1954 509 −0.48% 1962 507 −0.05% 1968 519 +0.39% 1975 527 +0.22% 1982 593 +1.70% 1990 582 −0.23% 1999 567 −0.29% 2007 653 +1.78% 2012 636 −0.53% 2017 651 +0.47% 2018 635 −2.46%
Source: EHESS[21] and INSEE[22]

Distribution of population by age

	Abancourt		Oise
Age Range	Men	Women	Men	Women
0 to 14 Years	22.3	21.5	21.0	19.5
15 to 29 Years	16.0	17.1	18.0	16.7
30 to 44 Years	19.7	17.5	19.7	19.6
45 to 59 Years	19.7	18.0	20.8	20.1
60 to 74 Years	17.7	19.5	14.8	15.4
75 to 89 Years	4.7	4.9	5.2	7.5
90 Years+	0.0	1.5	0.4	1.2

Source: INSEE[23][24]

Politics

Presidential Elections Second Round:[25]

Election		Winning Candidate	Party	%
	2017	Marine Le Pen	FN	70.27
	2012	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	62.15
	2007	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	59.95
	2002	Jacques Chirac	RPR	63.25

Sites and monuments

• The Church of Notre Dame (nineteenth century) contains a statue Education of the Virgin is registered as a "historical object".[26]
• Hennicourt Chapel: built by the Galopin-Mabille family in 1856 and restored in 2008.[27]

Facilities and services

Education

The commune has two schools – an elementary school at Abancourt and a primary school at Hennicourt.[28]

Shops and services

In 2008, the town also had a bar/tobacconist, a bakery and a grocery store, located on the Main Street.

At the railway station there is a hotel, restaurant and a bar/tobacconist.

A hall is also available for hire.

Notable people linked to the commune

• In the early 1960s, the singer Annie "Stone" Gautrat, who sang with Eric Charden, lived in a small house in Perny Street, near the railway station, with her parents during her childhood. The house is located at the corner of the street at the bridge. Stone still remembers the white portico which was present at the time.
• Patrick Jakobowsky wrote the lyrics of the song "Made in Normandy".

See also

• Communes of the Oise department

Notes and references

Notes

References

1. Abancourt on Lion1906
2. Inhabitants of Oise (in French)
3. Abancourt on Google Maps
4. Abancourt on the Géoportail from National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (in French)
5. TER Amiens to Rouen Timetable (in French)
6. Le Treport-Mers to Beauvais Timetable (in French)
7. 68.1 km according to Sandre. "Fiche cours d'eau - La Bresle (G01-0400)"., 71 km according to the EPTB of Aumale website, 72 km according to le Petit Larousse, the Encarta encyclopedia, and Pierre-Jean Thumerelle in his article dedicated to the river.
8. Source: Archaeological records on the Oise department, Academic Society of Archaeology, Sciences, and Arts of Oise, Emmanuel Woillez, 1862.
9. Abancourt on the 1750 Cassini Map
10. Abancourt on the 1790 Cassini Map
11. Revolutionary Names of Communes, p. 47 (in French)
12. Communes Letter
13. Hooper, Colette, Railways of the Great War, Bantam Press, London, 2014, p.128
14. Dr. David Payne, Why the British Army did not Mutiny En Masse on the Western Front in the Great War Archived May 5, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, 2008
15. Braithwaite, John Biography, Ian McGibbon, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Vol. 3, 1996
16. Mayors of France (in French)
17. Picardie Vert website Archived February 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine (in French)
18. Ministry of Economy and Finance: Individual accounts for communes (Municipal budgets 2001 to 2006) Archived 2012-07-01 at Archive.today (in French)
19. Local Taxes at taxe.com
20. Abancourt on INSEE (in French)
21. Données Cassini, EHESS
22. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
23. Évolution et structure de la population en 2017: Commune d'Abancourt (60001)
24. Évolution et structure de la population en 2017: Département de l'Oise (60)
25. http://www.lemonde.fr/data/france/presidentielle-2017/
26. Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM60000001 Group Sculpture: Education of the Virgin (in French)
27. Abancourt (Hénnicourt): End of work – the chapel begins a new life, 17 July 2008, Published in Le Réveil Bresle-Oise-Somme edition ISSN 0832-3941
28. List of primary schools for Abancourt (in French)

External links

• Abancourt official website