Barzun, Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Barzun
Commune
The Town hall
Location of Barzun
Barzun Barzun
Coordinates: 43°12′53″N 0°07′41″W
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Pau
Canton	Vallées de l'Ousse et du Lagoin
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	René Millet
Area 1	8.19 km2 (3.16 sq mi)
Population  (2021)	624
• Density	76/km2 (200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	64097 /64530
Elevation	323–435 m (1,060–1,427 ft) (avg. 388 m or 1,273 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Barzun (French pronunciation: [baʁzœ̃]) 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 Barzunais or Barzunaises.

Geography

Barzun is located some 20 km east by south-east of Pau and 15 km north-west of Lourdes. Access to the commune is by the D940 road from Espoey in the north-west which passes through the commune just west of the village and continues south to Lamarque-Pontacq. The D640 comes from Livron in the north and passes through the village continuing to Pontacq in the south. The D642 and the D418 connect the D940 to the village. The D42 passes through the eastern tip of the commune. The commune is all farmland except for a belt of forest east of and parallel to the Ruisseau de l'Ousse.

The Ruisseau de l'Ousse flows through the commune and the village from south-east to north and continues north to join the Gave de Pau at Pau. The Oussère river flows parallel to the Ruisseau de l'Ousse west of the village until they join north of the commune. The Sausse forms the western border of the commune as it flows north to join the Ourrou north-west of the commune. The Hoursoumou and the Ruisseau du Goua de Michou flow parallel to each other north through the east of the commune continuing to join the Gabas Lake at Luquet.

Places and hamlets

• Arribarrouy
• Balagué
• Batailles
• Bédat
• Bédat et Sarrailh
• Boyrie
• Capblan
• Cazaillet
• Cazala (barn)
• Las Cordes
• La Débèze
• Goua (bridge)
• Grada (barn)
• Hourcaspy
• Hourmiau
• Hourq Mayou et Espélague
• Labourdette
• Lanas
• Lapalangue (bridge)
• Larbiouze (barn)
• Larroutis
• Layrisse (barn)
• Lupié Thén
• Moulat
• Nargasse (barn)
• Pardimène (mill)
• Pène
• Pistoulet (barn)
• Le Poublan
• Ramounet
• Técous et Labie
• Tisnères (barn)

Toponymy

A fountain at the entrance to Barzun dated 1879

Michel Grosclaude said that the name probably comes from the Latin anthroponym Barisius with the suffix -unum.

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

Name	Spelling	Date	Source	Page	Origin	Description
Barzun	Barzunum	1286	Raymond	22	Chapter	Village
	Barsuu	1385	Grosclaude		Census
	Barsun	1402	Raymond	22	Census
	Barssun	1538	Raymond	22	Reformation
	Barfun	1750	Cassini1
	Barjun	1790	Cassini2
Lupié Thén	Le Lupié	1863	Raymond	106		Hamlet
Les Mouras	Les Mouras	1863	Raymond	119		Place
Le Pardiacq	Le Pardiacq	1863	Raymond	131		Place
La Peyrade	La Peyrade	1863	Raymond	134		Place

Sources:

• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)
• Grosclaude: Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, 2006 (in French)
• Cassini1: 1750 Cassini Map
• Cassini2: 1790 Cassini Map

Origins:

• Chapter: Titles of the Chapter of Béarn
• Census: Census of Béarn
• Reformation: Reformation of Béarn

History

Paul Raymond noted of page 22 of his 1863 dictionary that Barzun had 13 fires in 1385 and depended on the bailiwick of Pau.

In the 18th century Barzun was the chief town for the notary of Rivière-Ousse which comprised Artigueloutan, Barzun, Espoey, Gomer, Hours, Lée, Livron, Louboey, Lucgarier, Nousty, Ousse, Sendets, and Soumoulou.

Administration

List of Successive Mayors

From	To	Name
1995	2001	Alfred Prat-Bernachot
2001	2020	Maurice Minvielle
2020	2026	René Millet

Inter-communality

The Barzun dolmen (Neolithic)

The commune is part of four inter-communal structures:

• the Communauté de communes du Nord-Est Béarn;
• the water management association of the Ousse basin
• the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques;
• the inter-communal association for water and sanitation in the Ousse valley;

Education

The commune has a public primary school.

Demography

In 2017 the commune had 591 inhabitants.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 505 —     1800 525 +0.56% 1806 555 +0.93% 1821 607 +0.60% 1831 639 +0.52% 1836 680 +1.25% 1841 717 +1.07% 1846 697 −0.56% 1851 702 +0.14% 1856 691 −0.32% 1861 660 −0.91% 1866 657 −0.09% 1872 648 −0.23% 1876 630 −0.70% 1881 612 −0.58% 1886 570 −1.41% 1891 547 −0.82% 1896 521 −0.97%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 519 −0.08% 1906 516 −0.12% 1911 502 −0.55% 1921 425 −1.65% 1926 411 −0.67% 1931 409 −0.10% 1936 394 −0.74% 1946 347 −1.26% 1954 399 +1.76% 1962 409 +0.31% 1968 365 −1.88% 1975 363 −0.08% 1982 401 +1.43% 1990 455 +1.59% 1999 464 +0.22% 2007 608 +3.44% 2012 597 −0.36% 2017 591 −0.20%
Source: EHESS and INSEE

The War Memorial

Economy

The commune is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée of Ossau-iraty

Culture and heritage

The Church of Saint Vincent Diacre

Religious heritage

The Parish Church of Saint Vincent Diacre (1854) is registered as an historical monument.

Notable people linked to the commune

• Louis Pardimène, born on 15 July 1880 in Barzun, son of Pierre and Marie Ribes, soldier in the 83rd Infantry Regiment who was shot as an example on 7 January 1915 at Châlons-sur-Marne.
• Pierre-Marie Théas, born in 1894 at Barzun and died in 1977, was a French Catholic religious, Bishop of Montauban then of the Diocese of Tarbes-et-Lourdes.
• Gaëtan Paletou, Racing driver who participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015.

See also

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department