View source for Argences

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name                   = Argences
|commune status         = [[Communes of France|Commune]]
|image                  = Argences.JPG
|caption                = General view of Argences
|image coat of arms     = Blason Argences.svg
|arrondissement         = Caen
|canton                 = Troarn
|INSEE                  = 14020
|postal code            = 14370
|mayor                  = Marie-Françoise Isabel<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les maires|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/2876a346-d50c-4911-934e-19ee07b0e503|publisher=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=30 November 2023|language=fr}}</ref>
|term                   = 2023&ndash;2026
|intercommunality       = [[Communauté de communes Val ès Dunes|CC Val ès Dunes]]
|coordinates            = {{coord|49.1269|-0.1664|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation m            = 44
|elevation min m        = 2
|elevation max m        = 74
|area km2               = 9.76
|population             = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
|population date        = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
|population footnotes   = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
}}

'''Argences''' ({{IPA|fr|aʁʒɑ̃s|-|Fr-Argences.ogg}}) is a [[Communes of France|commune]] in the [[Calvados (department)|Calvados]] [[Departments of France|department]] in the [[Normandy (administrative region)|Normandy]] [[Regions of France|region]] of north-western [[France]]. It is in the urban area of [[Caen]], 15 kilometres from the city.

The commune has been awarded '''one flower''' by the ''National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom'' in the ''Competition of cities and villages in Bloom''.<ref>[http://www.cnvvf.fr/les_villes_et_village_fleuris-47.html Argences in the Competition for Towns and Villages in Bloom] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210053901/http://www.cnvvf.fr/les_villes_et_village_fleuris-47.html |date=December 10, 2014 }} {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

==Geography==
Argences is some 15&nbsp;km south-east of [[Caen]] and 1&nbsp;km north of [[Moult, Calvados|Moult]]. Access to the commune is by the D37 road from [[Saint-Pair]] in the north passing through the commune and the town and continuing to Moult in the south. The D41 road goes east from the town to join the D613 to Caen at [[Vimont, Calvados|Vimont]]. The D80 road also goes north-east from the town to [[Saint-Pierre-du-Jonquet]]. Apart from the town there are also the hamlets of Le Fresne to the north, Le Mesnil in the north-east, and Le Croix de Moult south of the town. The commune consists of a large residential area in the town with a large forest in the north-east (the Bois de Saint-Gilles) with small scattered forests but mostly farmland.<ref name=Google>[https://www.google.com/maps/place/Argences/@49.1337191,-0.1569823,6014m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x480a71ee8d7e1383:0x40c14484fbcfd10?hl=en Google Maps]</ref>

The ''Muane'' river flows through the town and the commune from south to north.

{{Geographic location
| title = '''Neighbouring communes and villages'''
|width=auto
|Centre    = Argences
|North     = [[Janville, Calvados|Janville]]
|Northeast = [[Saint-Ouen-du-Mesnil-Oger]]
|East      = [[Canteloup, Calvados|Canteloup]]
|Southeast = [[Croissanville]]
|South     = [[Moult, Calvados|Moult]]
|Southwest = [[Vimont, Calvados|Vimont]]
|West      = [[Bellengreville, Calvados|Bellengreville]]
|Northwest = [[Émiéville]]
}}

== History ==
In 989, [[Richard I of Normandy]] donated land to the Abbey of [[Fécamp]] for the [[curate]]s of [[Mondeville, Calvados|Mondeville]] and Argences. From that date, the domain of Mondeville was managed as an ecclesiastical fief by the Barony of Argences. During the ducal era the wines of Argences were highly regarded.<ref>Jean Renaud, ''The Vikings and Normandy'', éditions Ouest-France université, 1989. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

In 1912, the large tile factory at Fresne built a railway line 4&nbsp;km long connecting Argences to Moult-Argences Station in Moult on the [[Mantes-la-Jolie–Cherbourg railway|Paris-Cherbourg line]]. The line from Argences was closed in 1931 and the nearest station is now Moult-Argences ([[TER Basse-Normandie]]).

On 16 April 1942, a group of [[French Resistance|resistance]] fighters derailed a [[Maastricht]]-[[Cherbourg]] train two kilometres from Moult-Argences station in [[Airan]] commune causing 28 dead and 19 wounded - all German soldiers. On 30 April of that year, in revenge for German retaliation, a new derailment of the same train killed 10 German soldiers and wounded 22 others.<ref>[http://politique-auschwitz.blogspot.fr/2010/05/le-double-deraillement-de-moult-argence.html ''The double derailment at Moult-Argences and the hostages of Calvados''], Claudine Cardon-Hamet {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

===Heraldry===
{{Blazon-arms
|img1=Blason Argences.svg
|legend1=Arms of Argences
|text=

'''Blazon:'''<br/>
''Gules, 3 laurel branches Vert, 1 pale in chief, 2 stems in base saltirewise between 3 mitres of Or the fanons of the one in base debruised by the laurel leaves.''
}}

==Administration==
'''List of Mayors'''<ref>[http://www.francegenweb.org/mairesgenweb/resultcommune.php?id=18581 List of Mayors of France] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
{{Hidden begin
|title=[[Mayor (France)|Mayors]] from the French Revolution to 1929
|titlestyle = background:palegreen;
}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! From !! To !! Name !! Party !! Position
|-
| 1790 || 1791 || Pierre Michel Gouget ||   || 
|-
| 1791 || 1792 ||André Pierre Duval-Destin ||   || 
|-
| 1792 || 1794 || Robert Lesage ||   || 
|-
| 1794 || 1795 || Nicolas Guillaume Moulin ||   || 
|-
| 1795 || 1796 || Pierre Robert Caillouie ||   || 
|-
| 1796 || 1797 || Joseph Bornet ||   || 
|-
| 1797 || 1798 || Jean Mathieu Duport ||   || 
|-
| 1798 || 1799 || Joseph Bornet ||   || 
|-
| 1799 || 1799 || Nicolas Guillaume Moulin ||   || 
|-
| 1799 || 1800 || André Halbique  ||   || 
|-
| 1800 || 1806 || Pierre Duval-Destin ||   || 
|-
| 1806 || 1808 || Pierre Robert Cailloue ||   || 
|-
| 1808 || 1812 || François Huillard ||   || 
|-
| 1812 || 1815 || Ferdinand Desessarts ||   || 
|-
| 1815 || 1826 || Nicolas Moulin ||   || 
|-
| 1826 || 1828 || Jean Baptiste Honore ||   || 
|-
| 1828 || 1830 || Jean Duport ||   || 
|-
| 1830 || 1840 || Modeste Ancelle ||   || 
|-
| 1840 || 1841 || Germain Lecharpertier ||   || 
|-
| 1841 || 1843 || Jean Doublet ||   || 
|-
| 1843 || 1859 || Modeste Ancelle ||   || 
|-
| 1859 || 1871 || Armand Laville ||   || 
|-
| 1871 || 1874 || Germain Lecharpertier ||   || 
|-
| 1874 || 1874 || Armand Laville ||   || 
|-
| 1874 || 1896 || Dominique Lecomte ||   || 
|-
| 1896 || 1908 || Joseph Dalgot ||   || 
|-
| 1908 || 1912 || Désiré Lepetit ||   || 
|-
| 1912 || 1921 || André Gourmez  ||   || 
|-
| 1921 || 1929 || Clément Michel ||   || 
|}
{{Hidden end}}

;[[Mayor (France)|Mayors]] from 1929
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! From !! To !! Name !! Party !! Position
|-
| 1929 || 1945 || Jean Hamel ||   || 
|-
| 1945 || 1947 || Albert Frilley ||   || 
|-
| 1947 || 1953 || Jean Hamel ||   || 
|-
| 1953 || 1954 || René Maginier  ||   || 
|-
| 1954 || 1965 || André Plantain ||   || 
|-
| 1965 || 1970 || Michel Jourdan ||   || 
|-
| 1970 || 1971 || Georges Lemesle ||   || 
|-
| 1971 || 1979 || Alfred Rouillard ||   || 
|-
| 1979 || 1989 || Gilbert Deru ||   || 
|-
| 1989 || 1995 || Jean-François Hamel  ||   || 
|-
| 1995 || 2001 || Gilbert Deru ||   || 
|-
| 2001 || 2008 || Bernard Dufour ||   || Retired ETF officer
|-
| 2008 || 2023 || Dominique Delivet || LREM || Headmaster
|-
| 2023 || 2026 || Marie-Françoise Isabel ||   || 
|}

==Population==
The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Argençais'' or ''Argençaises'' in French.<ref>[https://www.habitants.fr/calvados-14 Le nom des habitants du 14 - Calvados], habitants.fr</ref>

{{Historical populations
|source = INSEE<ref name=pophist>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-14020#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE</ref>
|percentages = pagr
|align = none
|1968 |1802
|1975 |2215
|1982 |3000
|1990 |3048
|1999 |3241
|2007 |3495
|2012 |3596
|2017 |3718
}}

==Economy==
The newspaper ''L'Echo de la Muance'' was published in Argences from 1896 to 1897.<ref>Jean Quellien et Christophe Mauboussin, ''Newspapers from 1786 to 1944, the adventure of the press in Basse-Normandie'', Cahiers du Temps, 1998. {{ISBN|2911855132}} {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

==Sites and monuments==
*The '''Chateau of Fresne''' (1651){{Mérimée Icon}} is registered as a [[Monument historique]].<ref>Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée|PA00111015|PA00111015 Chateau of Fresne}} {{in lang|fr}}{{Camera}}</ref>
*The '''Church of Saint-Jean''' was destroyed by bombing in 1944 and only the wall of the [[apse]] remains.
*The '''Moulin de la Porte''' (Mill of the door) where the wheel is powered by the ''Muance''.
*The '''[[Lavoir]]''' (Public laundry) in the Rue de la Morte eau.
*The old '''Tuileries de Beauvais''' tile factory.

===Argences picture gallery===
<gallery>
File:Argences.JPG|General view of Argences
File:FranceNormandieArgencesPlaceLeclercEtEglise.jpg|General Leclerc Square and the church
Argences moulin de la Porte.JPG|The ''Moulin de la Porte''
Argences tuileries.JPG|The entrance to the ''Tuileries de Beauvais''
</gallery>

==Activities and events==
The association of rural families organizes dance classes for children and adults (beginners, modern dance, Fit'n dance).

==Notable people linked to the commune==
*'''Dominique Lemesle''' (1951-2007): Assistant Football Referee - 1st French Division (1979-1982)
*'''François Fayt''' (1946-): composer.
*'''[[Yohann Eudeline]]''' (1982-), French footballer who played at the local football club until 2000.

==See also==
*[[Communes of the Calvados department]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140416180526/http://www.valesdunes.fr/argences.html  Argences on the Community of Communes website] {{in lang|fr}}
*[http://rumsey.geogarage.com/maps/cassinige.html?lat=49.1269&lon=-0.1664&zoom=13 ''Argences'' on the 1750 Cassini Map]

{{Commons category|Argences}}
{{Calvados communes}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Communes of Calvados (department)]]
[[Category:Monuments historiques of Calvados (department)]]