Ascain


Ascain is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Azkaindar.
The commune has been awarded three flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom.

Geography

Ascain is part of the urban area of Bayonne in the traditional Basque province of Labourd 13 km east of Irun and south of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and the Atlantic Ocean in the western foothills of the Pyrenees. The southern tip of the commune touches the border with Spain at the peak of Larrun mountain. Access to the commune is by the D4 road from Urrugne in the north-west coming into the commune from the west then passing through the town and continuing south-east to Sare. The D918 also comes from Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the north and passes through the north of the commune between two urban areas and continuing east to Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle. Some 30% of the commune is residential with some small forests in the north and farmland mostly in the south with some farms in the north.
The summit of Larrun, a mountain iconic of the Basque country, is situated approximately south of the town at the southern tip of the commune on the border with Spain. The summit can be reached by the Petit train de la Rhune, which commences from the Col de Saint-Ignace, to the east of the town outside the commune on the D4 road to Sare.
The Interurban Network of Pyrénées-Atlantiques bus line has two stops in the commune: one for Route 863 which runs from Hasparren to Saint-Jean-de-Luz; and Route 858 between Sare and Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
The Nivelle river flows through the north of the commune flowing towards the west parallel to the D918 on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Several tributaries rise in the south of the commune and flow north, gathering many more tributaries, into the Nivelle. These streams include the Aniberreko Erreka, the Galardiko Erreka, and the Arraioko Erreka. The Larrunko Erreka forms the south-western border of the commune as it flows north then west to join the Intsolako Erreka which continues north to join the Aniberreko Erreka.

Places and hamletshttp://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/accueil?c=-1.62,43.3467&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

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Toponymy

The commune name in basque is Azkaine.
The name Ascain probably comes from haitz gain meaning "top of the hill" or "rocky height".
The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.
NameSpellingDateSourcePageOriginDescription
AscainEscan1125Goyheneche
583
Village
Escan1140Raymond
14
Bayonne
Scain1235Raymond
14
Bayonne
Azcayn1302Raymond
14
Chapter
Scainh1450Raymond
14
Labourd
Ascaing1552Raymond
14
Labourd
Sancta Maria d'Ascaing1691Raymond
14
Collations
Askaine19th centuryLhande
HaraniaHarania1863Raymond
75
Hamlet
OlhaberriettaOlhaberrietta1568Orpustan
37
House: "Place of the new hut"
SerresVilla quœ dicitur Asseres1140Raymond
160
Bayonne
Sanctus-Jacobus de Serres1691Raymond
160
Collations
Croix d'UrumendyCroix d'Urumendy1863Raymond
172
Place of Pilgrimage
XeruenbordaChérumborda1863Raymond
49
Place of Pilgrimage

Sources:
Origins:
In 1609 Councillor Pierre de Lancre intervened in French Basque Country at the head of a commission of inquiry demanded by Henri IV. The commission was to "purge the country of all sorcerers and sorceresses under the influence of demons". The priest of Ascain was degraded then burned.
The Bishop of Bayonne, Jean VI de Sossiondo, built a large house called "Askunda" here during the middle of the 16th century, which can still be seen.
In 1794, at the height of The Terror and after the desertion of 47 young people from Itxassou, the Committee of Public Safety arrested and deported some of the men, women, and children from Ainhoa, Ascain, Espelette, Itxassou, Sare, and Souraïde; and declared the commune, as for other communes near the Spanish border, a "Notorious commune". This measure was also extended to Biriatou, Cambo, Larressore, Louhossoa, Mendionde, and Macaye.
The inhabitants were: "gathered in various national houses or in the District of Ustaritz or in those of the Grande Redoubt, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau". In reality they were gathered in the churches then deported in very precarious conditions to Bayonne, Capbreton, Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse, and Ondres. Departments where people from the communes were interned were Lot, Lot-et-Garonne, Gers, Landes, Basses-Pyrénées, and Hautes-Pyrénées.
The return of the exiles and the recovery of their properties were determined by a series of decrees issued on 29 September and 1 October 1794 - driven in this direction by the Director of Ustaritz: "The former communes of Sare, Itxassou, Ascain, Biriatou, and Serres, whose inhabitants have been interned for eight months as a measure of general security people have not been able to farm. The people who wish to obtain freedom to retire to their homes are clamouring for food without us being able to provide them with the means to fulfil this first human need, hunger". The recovery of property was not done without difficulty: their properties had been sequestered but were not registered and so were looted: "Movable and immovable property of the inhabitants of Sare, were neither legally recognized nor disclosed; all our furniture and household effects were removed and brought confusedly to neighbouring communes. Instead of putting them in safe places, some were sold at auction or to any other party without auction".

Heraldry

These arms were registered for the first time on 5 July 1405 by Juan Martinez de Agorreta y Ascain, Lord of Agorreta and Ascain, who married Princess Leonor Tocco de Acciaioli, from the Florence House of Acciaioli.

Administration

List of Successive Mayors
FromToNamePartyPosition
18081813Michel Monségur
18131814Pierre Theillary
18141828Michel Monségur
18281837Jean Pagès
18371844Jean Gracy
18441848Raymond Monségur
18481856Dominique Hirigoyen
18561864Gustave Hillaire Argelliès
18641867Raymond Monségur
18671877Dominique Hirigoyen
18771883Jean called "Ganich" Gracy
18831891Jean Etcheverry
18911900Jean Larralde
19001904Dominique Berho
19041906René Minier
19061912Jean Gracy
19121919Jean Leholaberry
19191924René Minier
19241941Pierre Pinatel

;Mayors from 1941
FromToNamePartyPosition
19411945Jean-Baptiste Gracy
19451946Charles Minier
19461953Jean Baptiste Aspirot
19531963Jean Baptiste Gracy
19631971Robert Minier
19711977Jean Sauvé
19772001André LuberriagaDVD
20012014Jean-Louis LaducheDVD
20142020Jean-Louis Fournier

Inter-communality

The commune is part of eight inter-communal structures:
Ascain has twinning associations with:
In 1670 the commune had 300 fires and in 1718 1,560 inhabitants.
In 2010 the commune had 4,001 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 towns that have a sample survey every year.

Economy

Economic activity is mainly agricultural and also tourism. There is a sandstone quarry in the commune.
Ascain is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée zone of Ossau-iraty.
There are two breweries in the commune.

Culture and heritage

According to the Map of the Seven Basque Provinces edited in 1863 by Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte, the basque dialect spoken in Ascain is Labourdin.
The film La Danseuse Orchidée by Léonce Perret was partly filmed in Ascain in 1928 with Chiquito de Cambo.

Civil heritage

There are several buildings and structures in Ascain that are registered as historical monuments. These are:
The two redoubts were part of the defence by Marshal Soult of the Franco-Spanish border against the British Army under Wellington in 1813.
In 1947 the village erected the first Stèle des évadés de France in memory of the resistance fighters who left France to join the Free French Forces via Spain during the Second World War.

Religious heritage

The Church of the Assumption has some medieval remains. It was enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries and was inaugurated under Louis XIII in 1626. In 1605 Monseigneur Bertrand d'Etchaux, Bishop of Bayonne, visited the parish of Ascain and permitted "the said parishioners of the said parish to sell or dispose of the tombs that seem good in favour of the proceeds of the sale"... ..."the keeping, repair, and completion of the work on the church".
Inside the church is a Statue of the Virgin and Child which is a cast of a statue from the 14th century: the original in marble, called the Virgin of Longchamp, is preserved in the Musée national du Moyen Âge in Paris. Tombstones in pink sandstone from Larrun cover the grounds.
The Chapel of Serres, dedicated to Saint Jacques and recently restored was, in the Middle Ages, a waystation on the Way of St. James.

Facilities

Education

The commune has three primary schools: one public, one private catholic, and one Ikastola.
A Music school, in the form of an association offers classic and traditional training.
The Larrundarrak drum band, the Larrun Kanta choir, and the Martintxo-Altxalili association complete the musical offerings of the commune.

Sports and Sports facilities

There are several sports associations in the commune including associations for athletics, basketball, cycling, traditional dance, gymnastics, basque pelota, hiking, rugby union, and tennis.

Notable people linked to the commune