Annepont

Annepont
Commune
Watermill
Location of Annepont
Annepont Annepont
Coordinates: 45°50′38″N 0°36′49″W
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Charente-Maritime
Arrondissement	Saint-Jean-d'Angély
Canton	Saint-Jean-d'Angély
Intercommunality	Vals de Saintonge Communauté
Government
• Mayor (2014-2020)	Francis Boizumault
Area 1	8.81 km2 (3.40 sq mi)
Population  (2021)	394
• Density	45/km2 (120/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	17011 /17350
Elevation	3–62 m (9.8–203.4 ft) (avg. 14 m or 46 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Annepont is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Annepontois or Annepontoises

Geography

Annepont is located some 15 km south-west of Saint-Jean-d'Angely and 13 km north of Saintes. The A10 autoroute (E5) passes through the west of the commune but has no exit in or near the commune. Access to the commune is by the D127 from Taillebourg to the south-west passing through the village and continuing north to Mazeray. The D230 road also goes east from the village to Juico. The D231 also passes through the south of the commune forming part of the southern border and continues to Écoyeux to the south-east. The commune has extensive forests in the east covering some 40% of the land area with the rest of the commune farmland.

The Ruisseau de la Blanchardiere rises in the east of the commune and flows west joining with numerous other streams.

Toponymy

Toponymists do not mention an old form for this place name so that the etymology of Annepont remains hypothetical. Albert Dauzat saw a compound of the elements Anna, a Germanic personal name, followed by the Gallo-Roman Ponte (from the Latin pons) meaning "bridge".

Ernest Nègre agreed on the nature of the second element -pont but interpreted the first in a radically different way: it is possibly the local term asne meaning "humpbacked" - i.e. "humpbacked bridge".

N.B.: There is a Germanic personal name Anna which is unrelated to the Hebrew personal name Hanna(h) (giving Anna then Anne). This anthroponym is an hypocoristic Germanic anthroponym beginning with the element Arn-. The final a rather indicates a Saxon origin. This hypothesis is supported by the existence of a number of place names in the region (notably in -ville) so the first element could be a Saxon anthroponym. In addition, archaeological excavations confirm the presence of Saxons in the region. This far south a compound structure is expected rather than the Romanesque *Pontanne but Annepont is more reminiscent of a toponymic type of northern France marked by Germanic influence and made from a Germanic anthroponym as for Radepont, Senarpont, Hubertpont, Carlepont, etc. The solution advocated by Ernest Nègre, if possible phonetically, is even more hypothetical inasmuch as an ancient form of the type *Asnepont is required.

Administration

List of Successive Mayors

From	To	Name	Party	Position
2001	Current	Francis Boizumault	DVD

(Not all data is known)

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
2004	264	—
2006	276	+4.5%
2007	292	+5.8%
2008	308	+5.5%
2009	324	+5.2%
2010	340	+4.9%
2011	356	+4.7%
2012	357	+0.3%
2013	358	+0.3%
2014	359	+0.3%
2015	365	+1.7%
2016	369	+1.1%

The War Memorial

Distribution of Age Groups

The population of the commune is relatively old. The proportion of persons above the age of 60 years (26.2%) is higher than the national rate (21.6%) while being less than the departmental rate (28.1%). Like the national and departmental allocations, the female population of the commune is higher than the male population. The rate (50.9%) is of the same order of magnitude as the national rate (51.6%).

Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Annepont and Charente-Maritime Department in 2009

	Anneport	Anneport	Charente-M	Charente-M
Age Range	Men	Women	Men	Women
0 to 14 Years	20.1	15.2	17.2	15.1
15 to 29 Years	12.6	17.6	16.5	14.4
30 to 44 Years	21.4	18.8	18.7	17.9
45 to 59 Years	20.8	21.2	21.0	20.8
60 to 74 Years	10.7	15.8	17.2	17.8
75 to 89 Years	13.2	10.3	9.0	12.4
90 Years+	1.3	1.2	0.5	1.5

Sources:

• Evolution and Structure of the population of the Commune in 2009, INSEE.
• Evolution and Structure of the population of the Department in 2009, INSEE.

Culture and heritage

Logis of Maine-Moreau.

Civil heritage

• The Logis of Maine-Moreau (17th century), located in the Annepont countryside, is registered as an historical monument.

Religious heritage

Church of Saint-André at Annepont.

• The Church of Saint-André (12th century) is registered as an historical monument. The Romanesque church is located on a promontory and distinguished by a gate without a tympanum surrounded by Corinthian capitals and its ornamented chevet beautifully executed. Old houses surrounding the building give a special character to the whole.

Transport

Railway Stations and Halts

• Taillebourg (Halt) 2.7 km
• Saint-Savinien (Halt) 6 km
• Saint-Hilaire-de-Villefranche, Brizambourg (Halt) 6.3 km
• Saintes 10.6 km
• Saint-Jean-d'Angely 13.6 km

Airport and aerodrome

• Rochefort-St-Agnant 28.9 km
• Cognac 31 km
• Royan-Medis Aerodrome 36.6 km

See also

• Communes of the Charente-Maritime department

External links

• Annepont on the National Geographic Institute website (in French)
• Annepont on Lion1906
• Annepont on the 1750 Cassini Map
• Annepont on the INSEE website (in French)
• INSEE (in French)