- Département
- Marne
- Site
- Dry Champagne, on the Tourbe, west of the Argonne
- Inhabitants
- 45 (as at 1 January 2023)
- Source
- Wikipedia, eigene Zusammenfassung
A small village in the Marne département, in Champagne's dry chalk country on the Tourbe. It has no significance for champagne, but it bears the mark of the First World War: the village of Hurlus was completely destroyed.
Location
Wargemoulin-Hurlus lies about 55 kilometres east of Reims, immediately west of the Argonne on the Tourbe. Geologically the commune belongs to Dry Champagne, also known as the Champagne pouilleuse or Champagne crayeuse: a flat to gently rolling landscape of chalk. The commune covers a little over 15 square kilometres. Only the eastern third is inhabited and farmed, and that is where the village of Wargemoulin sits, in the Tourbe valley. The middle and the west belong to the Camp de Suippes military training area.
Champagne and farming
The village has no Grand Cru or Premier Cru classification, and viticulture plays no part here. The sources list nine farms, growing cereals and pulses. Anyone visiting Wargemoulin-Hurlus therefore sees the other side of Champagne: wide, open fields and plenty of woodland instead of rows of vines. Around 70 per cent of the land is forest and near-natural terrain. The climate is temperate: over the years 1971 to 2000 the average annual temperature was 10.2 °C and rainfall averaged 834 millimetres.
The two places, Wargemoulin and Hurlus, each became independent communes in 1793.Hurlus still had 88 inhabitants in 1911.
History
The area has been settled for a very long time. Excavations in the 19th century turned up golden Celtic brooches set with coral beads. Wargemoulin is first mentioned in 1184 as Wargemolin. The two places, Wargemoulin and Hurlus, each became independent communes in 1793.
Hurlus still had 88 inhabitants in 1911. In the First World War the village was destroyed completely. Like many places in the Zone rouge, it was never rebuilt. In 1950 the two communal territories were merged, and the commune has been called Wargemoulin-Hurlus ever since. With 45 inhabitants in 2023 it is small; its peak was in 1836, with 104 residents.
What to see and how to get there
- Church of Saint-Étienne in Wargemoulin, built in 1865, badly damaged in the First World War and later restored
- Fontaine Saint-Gengoult
- The Tourbe and the quiet landscape of Dry Champagne
The commune can only be reached by the D66 road between Somme-Tourbe and Ville-sur-Tourbe. You will find rail and motorway connections in Châlons-en-Champagne, about 38 kilometres away. For lovers of champagne, Wargemoulin-Hurlus is not a place for tastings, but it is a quiet spot that shows how different Champagne looks beyond the vineyards.
Pictures
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