- Département
- Marne (Grand Est region)
- Site
- South of the Marne valley, west of the Lac du Der-Chantecoq, near Vitry-le-François
- Inhabitants
- 470 (as of 1 January 2023)
- Source
- Wikipedia, eigene Zusammenfassung
A commune in the Marne département with the longest place name in France (45 characters). Not a wine village, but a village in the bocage west of the Lac du Der-Chantecoq.
If you ever want to write the name of this commune correctly on a label, an envelope or a form, you will need patience: Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont-Saint-Genest-et-Isson runs to 45 characters, 38 of them letters, which makes it the longest commune name in France. It has little to do with champagne in the strict sense, but as a curiosity of the Marne département it deserves a mention all the same.
Location
The commune lies slightly south of the Marne valley, west of the Lac du Der-Chantecoq and south-east of Vitry-le-François. It is made up of three hamlets that give it its name, and stretches from north to south through bocage countryside with damp soils and numerous ponds. The river Isson, a small tributary of the Marne, runs through it. It is around 20 kilometres long and joins the Marne at Frignicourt. The commune's bodies of water include the Étang de Corrée at 7.8 hectares and the Étang de Norrois at 4.8 hectares.
Landscape instead of vineyards
Vineyards do not appear in the land-use figures. Around 34 per cent of the commune is woodland (2018), chiefly the Bois des Usages, a further 34 per cent is arable land and a good 22 per cent is meadow. In total, woodland covers 733 hectares. There is no grand cru or premier cru here. If you are looking for champagne, you will find it along the Marne, on the Montagne de Reims or in the Côte des Blancs, not in this damp, green hinterland.
At the nearest Météo-France station, in Frignicourt, the annual mean for 1991 to 2020 is 11.5 °C, with rainfall of about 695 millimetres.
The climate is oceanic. At the nearest Météo-France station, in Frignicourt, the annual mean for 1991 to 2020 is 11.5 °C, with rainfall of about 695 millimetres. There, 41.7 °C was recorded on 25 July 2019, and minus 22 °C on 9 January 1985.
History and name
The present commune came into being in 1836 through the merger of three independent communes:
- Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont
- Saint-Genest
- Isson
Both saints' names have a story behind them. Saint-Remy refers to Remigius of Reims, the bishop who still plays a major role in Champagne today. Saint-Genest goes back to Genesius of Rome. During the Revolution the villages briefly went by other names: Saint-Remy was called Bouzemont and La Fraternité, and Saint-Genest was called Blaiseval.
Today
On 1 January 2023 the commune had 470 inhabitants. It belongs to the canton of Sermaize-les-Bains and the arrondissement of Vitry-le-François. According to the source, the long name causes difficulties even for the administration. If you are already out and about around the Lac du Der, a short detour is worthwhile for the curious: a quiet village that shows how varied the landscape of the Marne département looks beyond the vine slopes.
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