Auterrive

Not to be confused with Auterive, Haute-Garonne; Auterive, Gers; or Auterive, Tarn-et-Garonne.

Auterrive (French pronunciation: [otʁiv]; Occitan: Autarriba) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.

Auterrive
Commune
A solar clock face at Auterrive
Coat of arms
Location of Auterrive
Auterrive Show map of France Auterrive Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 43°28′02″N 0°59′51″W
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Canton	Orthez et Terres des Gaves et du Sel
Intercommunality	CC Béarn Gaves
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Philippe Labache[1]
Area 1	3.08 km2 (1.19 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	143
• Density	46/km2 (120/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	64082 /64270
Elevation	16–35 m (52–115 ft) (avg. 22 m or 72 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Geography

Auterrive is located some 14 km south-east of Peyrehorade and 7 km west of Salies-de-Béarn. Access to the commune is by the D29 road from Carresse-Cassaber in the north which passes just west of the village and continues south-west to Labastide-Villefranche. Access to the village is by local roads connecting to the D29. The D28 road goes south from Saint-Dos through the west of the commune and continues to Escos in the south. The D277 goes from the D29 just west to the village west of Saint-Dos. Apart from forest along the river bank and some small forests in the west of the commune the land is all farmland.^[3]

Auterrive is a Gascon village, which fully depended on Dax and is nowhere mentioned as Bearnais. Paul Raymond reported a record from 1675 when the village was referred to as Autarrive en France. Pierre-Tucoo Chala indicated a peculiarity concerning Carresse-Cassaber: the Auterrive bridge is not on the border but Gascony had a bridgehead on the right bank of the Gave d'Oloron on what is now the territory of the Béarnais village of Carresse. This area did not touch the river at the bridge and purists could say that the béarnais commune of today has incorporated a few hectares of Gascon land.

The commune is in the drainage basin of the Adour. The area east of the village is an island enclosed by a loop of the Gave d'Oloron and a stream which crosses the loop (although the Gave d'Oloron is not the border of the commune).^[3]

Places and hamlets

• Boucau
• Le Désert
• Dumirail^[4]
• Durancou
• Labarthe
• Lahosse
• Larribère (Mill)
• Maysonnave
• Minoterie
• Noutary
• Terrenabe

^[5]

Neighbouring communes and villages

^[3]

Toponymy

The commune name in béarnais is Autarriba. For Michel Grosclaude the origin of the name is unquestionably Gascon, auta arriba from the Latin alta ripa meaning "high river".^[6]

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

Name	Spelling	Date	Source	Page	Origin	Description
Auterrive	Autarribe	13th century	Raymond	17	Bayonne	Village
	Autaribe	1360	Raymond	17	Came
	Sent-Miqueu d'Autarribe	1442	Raymond	17	Notaries
	Autarrive en France	1675	Raymond	17	Reformation
	Hauterive	1750	Cassini
Dumirail	Dumirail	1863	Raymond	57		Hamlet and Lake

Sources:

• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)^[4]
• Grosclaude: Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, 2006 (in French)^[6]
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750^[7]

Origins:

• Bayonne: Cartulary of Bayonne or Livre d'Or (Book of Gold)^[8]
• Came: Titles of Came^[9]
• Notaries: Notaries of Labastide-Villefranche^[10]
• Reformation: Reformation of Béarn^[11]

History

Paul Raymond noted on page 17 of his 1863 dictionary that Auterrive depended on the sub-delegation of Dax.^[4]

Heraldry

Arms of Auterrive

Auterrive depicts a Jay in the arms to symbolize the defensive site of Barry. The Jay is reputed to give an alarm when an intruder enters a wood. Blazon: Quarterly, at 1 and 4 Gules, a Jay in flight of Argent; at 2 and 3 Argent, a lion of Gules.

Administration

List of Successive Mayors^[12]

From	To	Name
1995	2014	Josette de Caumia-Baillenx
2014	2026	Philippe Labache

Inter-communality

The commune is part of seven inter-communal structures:

• the Communauté de communes du Béarn des Gaves;
• the SIGOM;
• the SIVU of five villages;
• the SIVU for educational regrouping of Léren, Saint-Pé-de-Léren, Saint-Dos et Auterrive;
• the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques;
• the inter-communal association for the management of drinking water from the Saleys and its Gaves;
• the inter-communal association for Gaves and the Saleys;

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Auterriverains or Auterriveraines in French.^[13]

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 245 —     1800 255 +0.57% 1806 287 +1.99% 1821 298 +0.25% 1831 300 +0.07% 1836 301 +0.07% 1841 287 −0.95% 1846 313 +1.75% 1851 345 +1.97% 1856 320 −1.49% 1861 311 −0.57% 1866 302 −0.59% 1872 309 +0.38% 1876 289 −1.66% 1881 284 −0.35% 1886 281 −0.21% 1891 253 −2.08% 1896 265 +0.93%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 240 −1.96% 1906 230 −0.85% 1911 248 +1.52% 1921 200 −2.13% 1926 202 +0.20% 1931 205 +0.30% 1936 212 +0.67% 1946 226 +0.64% 1954 201 −1.45% 1962 195 −0.38% 1968 195 +0.00% 1975 163 −2.53% 1982 151 −1.09% 1990 146 −0.42% 1999 137 −0.70% 2007 129 −0.75% 2012 118 −1.77% 2017 130 +1.96%
Source: EHESS[14] and INSEE[15]

Economy

The commune is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and Heritage

Auterrive church

Civil heritage

• At the foot of the Gave there is the Barry fortress which was an observation and border post between Navarre, Béarn, and Gascony. This small enclosure had a garrison of three soldiers until 1682. The currently existing ruins, although based on much older foundations, seem to date back to the Hundred Years War when Auterrive was occupied by the English and attached to the Seneschal of Hastings.
• The Maisonnabe House in the Mirails district dates to 1661;
• The Pouey House is an old manor house of justice
• The Hau House is a former dependency of the Abbey of Sorde.

There is a small enamelled plate which says "June 1875" that recalls the flood which swept away the village bridge killing two people in that year.

Religious heritage

• The Church dates from the 16th century.
• There are several Calvaries including a cross of Saint-Michel which formerly marked the boundaries of the Abbey of Sorde.
• There was a Chapel in the Mirails district which was recently destroyed.

Environmental heritage

• Lake Dumirail is south-west of the commune.^[3]

Amenities

There is a holiday and leisure centre at Auterrive (Les Francas).

Notable people linked to the commune

• The Marquise de Montehermoso (1784 to 1869), born Countess Maria-Pilar d'Acedo, Countess of Echauz, widow of the Marquis of the same name and mistress of Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain, married in the village to Amédée of Carabène, the holder of numerous French and foreign decorations, future general counsel and senior officer of the Napoleonic campaigns. She was also the owner of Barry, the fortified site in the village.^[16]

See also

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

Bibliography

• Alexis Ichas, History of Auterrive - Vols. I & II, Éditions Atlantica (in French)
• Alexis Ichas, History of gaves, Éditions Atlantica (in French)
• Alexis Ichas, Béarnais Chronicles of gave and the Saleys, Éditions Atlantica, 2006 (in French)