Poncin

Poncin is a commune in the French department of Ain, in the Rhône -Alpes. It is the capital of the canton of the same name.

Geography

Poncin is at 263 m above sea level. Level, about 19 kilometers southeast of the city of Bourg -en- Bresse ( straight line ) in the southern French Jura Mountains. The area of ​​19.77 km2 municipal area includes a portion of the Ain valley in the Bugey. The town lies on the left bank of Ain ​​at the point where the brook Veyron from the gorge of Cerdon empties into the Ain. The highest point is Mount Les Roches above the hamlet of La Cueille.

Besides the village Poncin there is in the municipality nor the following Weiler ( from north to south ):

• Allement (286 m above sea level. M. ) upstream on the right bank of Ain
• La Cueille (310 m above sea level. M. ) exactly opposite of Allement on a hill on the left bank of Ain
• Champeillon ( 262 m. Above sea level. M. ) on the road from Poncin to La Cueille
• Avrillat ( 357 m above sea level. M. ) in the foothills of the plateau of Saint -Alban
• Leymiat (278 m above sea level. M. ) on a plain at the entrance of the gorge of Cerdon
• Ménestruel (299 m above sea level. M. ) south of the plane between Poncin and Leymiat
• Breignes (375 m above sea level. M. ) at the foothills of the plateau of Mérignat.

Neighboring communities of Poncin are Bohas - Meyriat - Rignat, Haute Court- Romanèche, Serrières -sur- Ain and Challes -la -Montagne in the north, Saint- Alban, Cerdon and Mérignat in the east, Jujurieux in the south and Neuville- sur- Ain in the West.

History

The area of Poncin has been since at least the Bronze Age, permanently settled, which have demonstrated systematic excavations of the soil layers in the cave dwelling Abri Gay. At other sites on the communal land bronze needles and axes were found. From a number of villas from Gallo-Roman times foundations were uncovered.

Already at the beginning of the 6th century there was a parish in Poncin, which was mentioned in medieval documents as Poncins and Pontianum. The territory belonged in the 12th century to the possessions of the house of Coligny and went to 1185 to the Lords of Thoire -Villars which built a castle there. The Counts of Savoy took over after the death of the last Thoire -Villars finally sovereignty over Poncin. The Treaty of Lyon the entire Bugey arrived in 1601 to France.

Attractions

The present castle of Poncin is a building of the 19th century, but is within the walls which could create as part of their castle, the Thoire -Villars in the Middle Ages. This castle was demolished in 1601 and replaced in the 18th century by a castle, which was heavily damaged during the French Revolution. Parts of the ramparts, terraces and gardens are registered as a monument historique. Upriver in the Ain valley at the head of the hamlet of La Cueille is the Château de la Cueille. The building was built in the 13th century by the Lords of Coligny and remodeled in the 16th and 19th centuries.

As a modern building is located a few hundred meters north of the historic town center, the completed 1986 box-girder bridge of the A40 motorway. It leads with a main span of 155 meters above the river Ain.

Population

With 1665 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011) Poncin is one of the medium sized communities of the department of Ain. After the population had decreased slightly in the first half of the 20th century (1901 1675 people were still counted ), it has been increasing since the 1990s, again slightly.

Economy and infrastructure

Poncin was until well into the 20th century an embossed by agriculture village. Today there are in place both a greater number of small businesses as well as an industrial company with a few hundred employees, makers of Markiermaschienen and specialty machines Tiflex. A large part of the working population are also commuters who engage in the larger towns in the vicinity of their work. The municipal ground wine production until today, in the slopes at the hamlets Breignes and Leymiat. There are grown mainly needed for protected designation of origin Cerdon varieties Poulsard and Gamay. Of the 28 farms (as of 2010 ) in the village about half are winemakers.

The Department of Road D1084 through the town. It combines Nantua with Pont- d'Ain and is also part of the highway connection between Lyon and western Switzerland. The incipient in Poncin D91 follows the course of the Ain over 30 kilometers to Matafelon -Granges. The A40 motorway also passes through the municipality, but there has no connection points. An A42 is located about 9 miles away in Pont- d'Ain.