La Balme-les-Grottes

La Balme-les-Grottes

The Lavoir (Public laundry)

Coat of arms
La Balme-les-Grottes

Coordinates: 45°51′12″N 5°20′13″E / 45.8533°N 5.3369°E / 45.8533; 5.3369Coordinates: 45°51′12″N 5°20′13″E / 45.8533°N 5.3369°E / 45.8533; 5.3369
Country France
Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department Isère
Arrondissement La Tour-du-Pin
Canton Crémieu
Intercommunality Isle-Crémieu
Government
 • Mayor (2014–2020) Martine Gabeure
Area1 14.61 km2 (5.64 sq mi)
Population (2010)2 915
 • Density 63/km2 (160/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 38026 / 38390
Elevation 192–383 m (630–1,257 ft)
(avg. 210 m or 690 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

La Balme-les-Grottes is a French commune in the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-eastern France.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Balmolans or Balmolanes.[1]

Geography

La Balme-des-Grottes is located some 32 km east by north-east of Lyon and 11 km south of Ambérieu-en-Bugey on the right bank of the Rhône. The Rhône also forms the departmental border between Isère and Ain. Access to the commune is by the D65 road from Leyrieu in the south which passes through the length of the commune and the village and continues north to join the D1075 west of Vertrieu. The D52B branches from the D65 in the commune and goes south to Saint-Baudille-de-la-Tour. The D52C also branches from the D65 at the same intersection and goes south-east to Charette. The commune is mixed forest and farmland with dense forests in the north-east.[2]

The Rhône river forms the entire western border of the commune with no crossing points anywhere in the commune. The commune is covered by a network of canals linked to the Rhône and the Ruisseau de Laye which is a minor loop of the Rhône.[2]

Neighbouring communes and villages[2]

 Sainte-Julie Lagnieu Vertrieu
Blyes Parmilieu
   La Balme--les-Grottes  
Saint-Vulbas Hières-sur-Amby Charette

History

Neanderthal men from the Middle Paleolithic period left flint tools and food scraps in the La Balme caves. Around 15000/13000 BC, in the late Upper Paleolithic, Cro-Magnon hunters did the same in the shelter of the cave: flints and bones of reindeer, ibex, aurochs, and horses have been found.

From about 4000 BC, Neolithic farmers colonised the region leaving their polished axes, flints, and pots in Louvaresse and Travers. Collective graves and vases have also been found in the cave from that time. It was especially at the end of the Bronze Age that they left very important remains (1250-950 BC): numerous tombs with cremation urns and animal offerings have been found in crevices and under boulders in a large part of the cave. It is an underground necropolis of the Urnfield culture, now well-known to European specialists for its wealth of ceramic vases from a full scientific publication.[3]

Part of the archaeological material from all eras is displayed in the Heritage House at Hières-sur-Amby where it was sent in 1985 by the excavators.

Heraldry

 The official status of the blazon remains to be determined.

Blazon:
Party per bend sinister wavy, at first Argent a dolphin Azure; at second Vert, an entry to a cave Argent charged with a church proper of 3 levels with the sinister wall mouvant windows open and a slope proper mouvant to dexter, over a path in bend sinister of Azure mouvant to base, with another path in bend sinister proper to dexter mouvant to base, in chief wavy of Azure; at the bend sinister wavy debruised by a bend sinister wavy of Azure charged with 6 ribbands wavy of Argent.

Administration

List of Successive Mayors[4]

From To Name Party Position
2001 2014 Didier Chapit
2014 2020 Martine Gabeure

(Not all data is known)

Demography

In 2010 the commune had 915 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 communes that have a sample survey every year.[Note 1]

Population Change (See database)
1793 1800 1806 1821 1831 1836 1841 1846 1851
514 558 568 654 644 741 850 892 912
1856 1861 1866 1872 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896
869 863 819 759 649 608 588 602 510
1901 1906 1911 1921 1926 1931 1936 1946 1954
461 452 446 405 384 345 310 330 408
1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2010 -
426 393 438 531 588 675 814 915 -

Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1962, INSEE database from 1968 (population without double counting and municipal population from 2006)

Economy

Culture and heritage

Civil heritage

The commune has many buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:

Religious heritage

The commune has several religious buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments:

Environmental heritage

The entrance to the Cave

Notable people linked to the commune

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ At the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of identification have been modified by Law No. 2002-276 of 27 February 2002, the so-called "law of local democracy" and in particular Title V "census operations" allows, after a transitional period running from 2004 to 2008, the annual publication of the legal population of the different French administrative districts. For communes with a population greater than 10,000 inhabitants, a sample survey is conducted annually, the entire territory of these communes is taken into account at the end of the period of five years. The first "legal population" after 1999 under this new law came into force on 1 January 2009 and was based on the census of 2006.

References

  1. ↑ Inhabitants of Isère (French)
  2. 1 2 3 Google Maps
  3. ↑ La Grotte de la Balme (French)
  4. ↑ List of Mayors of France (French)
  5. ↑ Copainspro website (French)
  6. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000343 House 1 at D65 IA38000345 House 2 at D65 IA38000344 House 3 at D65 IA38000576 Houses IA38000128 Farmhouse at la Brosse (French)
  7. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000051 Town Hall / School at Route de Lagneu (French)
  8. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée PA38000001 Chateau de Salette (French)
  9. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée PA00117117 IA38000036 Chateau d'Amblérieu (French)
  10. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000577 War Memorial (French)
  11. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000342 Moulin du Pré du Moulin at Amblérieu IA38000341 Flour Mill at Travers (French)
  12. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000339 Lavoir (French)
  13. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée PA38000334 Chateau de La Serve (French)
  14. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000037 Chateau Delphinal (French)
  15. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000340 Wayside Cross at Rue des Grottes (French)
  16. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000338 Favre family tomb (French)
  17. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000337 Tomb of Eudoxie Gigard (French)
  18. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000336 Péricaud family tomb (French)
  19. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000335 Cemetery (French)
  20. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000318 Priory of Notre-Dame (French)
  21. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000315 Chapel of Notre-Dame of the Grotto (French)
  22. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA38000115 Parish Church of Saint Peter (French)
  23. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM38000014 Sarcophagus (French)
  24. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM38000013 Funeral Stele (French)
  25. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM38000012 Commemorative Plaque (French)
  26. ↑ Marius Riollet: "Review of tre History of Lyon" Vol. X, 1911 (French)
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