Annonay

Annonay
The Valgelas bridge over the Deûme river
Annonay
Administration
Country	France
Region	Rhône-Alpes
Department	Ardèche
Arrondissement	Tournon-sur-Rhône
Canton	Annonay-Nord and Annonay-Sud
Intercommunality	Bassin d'Annonay
Mayor	Olivier Dussopt (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	270–746 m (890–2,448 ft) (avg. 358 m or 1,175 ft)
Land area1	21.20 km2 (8.19 sq mi)
Population2	17,156  (2008)
- Density	809 /km2 (2,100 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	07010/ 07100
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.

Annonay (French pronunciation: [anɔnɛ]; Anonai in Occitan) is a commune in the north of the Ardèche department in the Rhône-Alpes region in southern France. It is the most populous commune in the Ardèche department, although it is not the capital, which resides in the smaller town of Privas.

Geography

Annonay lies a few kilometres from the river Rhône, 75 km (47 mi) south of Lyon and 40 from Saint-Étienne.

Annonay is built on the hill over the deep gorges of the Deûme and the Cance and upon the steep walls of the gorges themselves, the waters of which supplied power to the factories of the town in a series of small dams up and downstream. the escarpments of annonay are surrounded by plateaus and gentle hills used for cultivating cherries, apricots, apples, pears, and crops. By means of a dam across the Ternay, an affluent of the Deûme, to the north-west of the town, a reservoir is provided, in which an additional supply of water, for both industrial and domestic purposes, is stored. The rocks of annonay consist of mostly grey or light orange leucogranite and orthogneiss rich in biotite, sillimanite and corderite with alternating bands of felsic and mafic material.

History

A depiction of the Montgolfier brothers' historic balloon.

The town's name may be of Roman origin.

By the Middle Ages, the town was already thriving and was the home to several powerful families. Pilgrims stopped in the town on the way from the Rhône valley to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Puy-en-Velay. The town was plundered several times by invading armies and armed bands, and suffered during the Hundred Years' War, despite the wall that were built around the town.

In the first half of the 16th century, the town was influenced by Lutheran and Calvinist ideas and there were several skirmishes between protestants and catholics, with several "heretics" being burnt alive. The population had reached 3,500 by the start of the religious wars in 1562. The wars were used as a pretext to deprive the town of its prosperity. The nearby castle of Pugneux was badly damaged on two occasions. 1585 to 1586 were especially disastrous, with not only war, but famine and the plague. Calm and prosperity retunded after the 1598 Edict of Nantes.

On June 4, 1783, Annonay was the location of the Montgolfier brothers first public unmanned hot air balloon flight. The event is celebrated annually each June, on the site of the flight in the place des Cordeliers. The Montgolfier brothers were natives of the town, and there is an obelisk in honour of them.

In 1822, the Congregation of St. Basil, a Catholic order of priests was founded.

On March 8, 2001, an ETA suspect was arrested at a local roadblock.

Population

Historical population of Annonay

Year	1793	1800	1806	1821	1831	1836	1841	1846	1851	1856
Population	5800	5550	6083	7748	8277	9031	10,384	11,938	13,214	13,679

Year	1861	1866	1872	1876	1881	1886	1891	1896	1901
Population	16,271	18,445	17,033	15,848	17,291	17,308	17,626	17,028	17,490

Year	1906	1911	1921	1926	1931	1936	1946	1954	1962
Population	17,300	16,661	15,032	14,690	15,427	15,669	15,462	16,201	18,434

Year	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2008
Population	20,757	20,832	19,484	18,525	17,522	17,156

Economy

Annonay has a strong industrial tradition. In the past Annonay was noted for its leather goods. Although the industry has declined, the Tannerie d'Annonay (Tannery) continues the tradition under the Grison brand.

Irisbus, a Renault Vehicles Industries and Fiat Iveco joint venture, constructs buses, and is the largest single employer with around 2,000 staff, and several associated businesses.

The multinational paper company Arjo Wiggins' subsidiary Papeteries Canson et Montgolfier SA, which dates back to 1557 (and is linked to the Montgolfier brothers?), owns three of the several paper factories in the town.

Other industries in or close to the town include plastics, textiles, and pharmaceutical companies including Ciba, Aguettant and Tetra Médical.

There are a number of vineyards near the town.

The average salary in the area is 23,300 euro.

Miscellaneous

The town is home to an annual international film festival.

A tribunal of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a branch of the Bank of France, and chambers of commerce and of arts and manufactures are among the public institutions.

On film

The 2003 part-British funded movie L'homme du train (The Man on the Train) was filmed in Annonay.

Personalities

Annonay was the birthplace of:

• Marc Séguin (1786–1875), engineer, inventor of the wire-cable suspension bridge and the tubular steam-engine boiler
• Joseph Canteloube (Marie-Joseph Canteloube de Malaret) (1879–1957), composer, singer and folk-song collector
• Auguste Bravais (1811-1863), physicist who created the mathematical models of crystal structures known as Bravais lattices

Twin towns

Annonay is twinned with:

• Chelmsford, United Kingdom
• Backnang, Germany
• Barge, Italy

See also

• Communes of the Ardèche department

References

• INSEE

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• A tour of the histrical sites (in French)
• Town Hall and local information (in French)
• Regional Chamber of Commerce (in French)
• Industrial data (in French)
• Annonay in Google maps