- Département
- Marne
- Site
- Argonne, right bank of the Aisne, near Sainte-Menehould
- Inhabitants
- 37 (2023)
- Source
- Wikipedia, eigene Zusammenfassung
Saint-Thomas-en-Argonne is a tiny village in the north-east of the Marne, in the Argonne on the edge of Champagne. No vines grow here, but there are forests, fields and history.
Location
Saint-Thomas-en-Argonne lies in the north-east of the Marne département, in the Grand Est region. With 37 inhabitants (as of 2023), it is one of the smallest communes in the area. The village sits on a plateau above the Aisne valley, where the river divides the landscape: to the east the wooded Argonne, to the west the Champagne Pouilleuse, or dry Champagne. In the south of the commune the Biesme flows into the Aisne. The commune covers roughly 4.4 square kilometres, and its highest point in the north-east stands at just under 190 metres.
Champagne and landscape
Here is something worth knowing: there is no viticulture in Saint-Thomas-en-Argonne. Around 69 per cent of the land is farmed, mostly arable fields and meadows, and almost a third is forest. A grain farm and a forestry business are based here. The village is neither a grand cru nor a premier cru, but an example of the rural surroundings that enclose Champagne in the north-east. If you know the vineyards of the Marne, this gives you an idea of how different the landscape looks beyond the vines.
With 37 inhabitants (as of 2023), it is one of the smallest communes in the area.
History
The priory of Saint-Thomas was founded here in 1096. It was a dependency of the Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims, a name champagne lovers will know from the city itself. Pope Lucius III confirmed the priory's privileges in 1182. Monastic life ended around 1530, and the buildings were destroyed around 1633.
During the French Revolution the village was briefly known as Bel-Air-sur-Aisne and Mont-Aisne. It received the addition "en-Argonne" in 1921. In the First World War the village was completely destroyed and then rebuilt in the 1920s. The town hall and school were built in 1923 with support from the town of Courbevoie near Paris, which named one of its streets after the village. The population peaked in 1861 at 212 people.
Sights
- Church of Saint-Thomas: restored after its destruction in 1925, with only the staircase of 1823 surviving from the old church
- National necropolis at the highest point of the commune, a First World War military cemetery
- Chapelle des Poilus
- Calvary
Getting there
The nearest sizeable town is Sainte-Menehould, about twelve kilometres away. It has a connection to the A4 motorway between Paris and Strasbourg. Châlons-en-Champagne, the prefecture of the Marne, is around 60 kilometres away by road. If you want to brush the edge of the Argonne on a champagne trip, Saint-Thomas makes a quiet stop with a historical backdrop.
Pictures
0 %