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Balbigny

Coordinates: 45°49′09″N 4°11′17″E / 45.8192°N 4.1881°E / 45.8192; 4.1881
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Balbigny
Commune
Town hall
Town hall
Location of Balbigny
Map
Balbigny is located in France
Balbigny
Balbigny
Balbigny is located in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Balbigny
Balbigny
Coordinates: 45°49′09″N 4°11′17″E / 45.8192°N 4.1881°E / 45.8192; 4.1881
CountryFrance
RegionAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes
DepartmentLoire
ArrondissementRoanne
CantonLe Coteau
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Gilles Dupin[1]
Area
1
16.98 km2 (6.56 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
2,848
 • Density170/km2 (430/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
42011 /42510
Elevation314–482 m (1,030–1,581 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Balbigny (French pronunciation: [balbiɲi]) is a commune in the Loire department in central France.

History

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Balbigny owes its name to a Roman general named Balbinius who based himself here in order to conduct a war. Nothing survives from this period. The earliest identified traces of Balbigny date from 1090.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before the Loire was channelled, Balbigny was a village of boatmen, known for flat bottomed boats known as Rambertes which were used to transport the coal mined at Saint-Étienne. The loaded Rambertes arrived from Saint-Rambert and stopped off at Balbigny where the boat crews were changed, taking the boats to the next change-over point at Roanne. All this changed in August 1832 with the arrival of the third oldest railway line in France which connected Andrézieux-Bouthéon with Roanne, passing Balbigny en route. An extension of the rail network in 1913 saw Balbigny connected with Saint-Germain-Laval and Régny. The coal was therefore transported by rail, but the railway also gave farmers in the district access to a wider range of markets for their produce.

The road bridge crossing the Loire was destroyed in 1940 in order to hold back advancing German troops, and a ferry service was introduced to permit the river to be crossed. The bridge was rebuilt in 1950.

Population

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Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1968 2,023—    
1975 2,314+1.94%
1982 2,469+0.93%
1990 2,415−0.28%
1999 2,616+0.89%
2007 2,634+0.09%
2012 2,897+1.92%
2017 2,965+0.47%
Source: INSEE[3]

Twin towns

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Balbigny is twinned with:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE