Aast, Pyrénées-Atlantiques


Aast is a French commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France.
The inhabitants are known as Aastais.
The local pronunciation is aas with a highly nasalised 'a' and a silent 't'.

Geography

Location

The village is situated on the plateau of Ger and is composed of a dozen scattered houses. Aast is 20 km east of Pau and 20 km north of Lourdes. Access to the commune is by road D70 then D311 north-east from Gardères, road D64 north-west from Ger, and road D311 when coming south from Ponson-Dessus. Other country roads can also be used to access the commune.

Hydrography

Located in the Drainage basin of the Adour, Aast is traversed by the Carbouère stream, a tributary of the Louet river.

Localities and hamletshttp://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/accueil?c=-0.0892,43.2903&z=7.92265E-5&l=GEOGRAPHICALGRIDSYSTEMS.MAPS.3D$GEOPORTAIL:OGC:WMTS@aggregate(1)&l=ADMINISTRATIVEUNITS.BOUNDARIES$GEOPORTAIL:OGC:WMTS(1)&permalink=yes Géoportail , IGN">Institut géographique national">IGN, consulted on 14 October 2011

Toponymy

Aast is the first French commune in alphabetical order. Previously, Aas, another commune in the Lower Pyrenees, came first until 1861, when it merged with the commune of Assouste to form the new commune of Eaux-Bonnes.
The commune's Béarnais name is also Aast.
According to Dauzat and Rostaing Aast comes from the Basque ast. This seems unlikely given the physical setting. Michel Grosclaude suggests that the name of the town derives from an anthroponym composed of Aner + Aster. Brigitte Jobbé-Duval recalls that in 1429, Aast appeared as Hast, which means lance, and therefore advanced the theory that Aast could refer to a battle that occurred there.
The following table details the origins of the commune name.
NameSpellingDateSourcePageOriginDescription
AastHast1429Raymond
1
CensusVillage
Ast1544Raymond
1
Reformation
Aast1750Cassini

Sources:
Origins:
There was a Lay Abbey in Aast which was abolished in 1791. The Lordship of Aast was owned by the Day family from 1674 until the French Revolution. In 1678, Jérome de Day, adviser to the king, bought the abbey and tithes with rights of patronage: he was to provide a priest and entitled to receive a portion of the tithe, to sit in the choir, to be first to receive the blessed bread, and to be buried in the church.

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive Mayors of Aast
FromToNamePartyPosition
18001802Jean Poublan
18021806Matthieu Tisné
18061820Jean Bidou
18201822Michel Naude
18221824Alexis Lassus
18241828Michel Naude
18281835Pierre Capdevielle
18351837Alexis Lassus
18371852Pierre Picourlat
18521865Barthélémy Lassus
18651871Jean Lassus
18711881Jacques Tisné Daban
18811889Jean Lasserre
18891892Pierre Tisné Daban
18921904Jean Lasserre
19041919Jean Sarthou
19191942Jacques Louis Lasserre

;Mayors from 1942
FromToNamePartyPosition
19421944Dominique Picourlat
19441945Célestin Tisné Daban
19451945Jean Sylvain Lascassies
19451949Célestin Tisné Daban
19491983Jean Lassus
19832008Jean-Noël LacourrègeRPR then UMPGeneral Counsel
20082019Romain MorlanneDVD
2020CurrentJean-François Garnier

Population

Politics

Presidential Elections Second Round:

Economy

The 2006 classification by INSEE, indicating the median household incomes for each commune with more than 50 households ranked Aast at 5274, with an average annual income of €18,858.

Culture and Heritage

Civil heritage

The town has a number of old farmhouses:
The Church of Saint Martin dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours was built under Napoleon III during the administration of Mayor Bartholomew Lassus. Recently renovated by the artist Villarubias, there are many objects in the church registered as historical objects: