Pouyastruc

Pouyastruc is a commune with 669 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011) in the department of Hautes -Pyrénées in the Midi -Pyrénées region in the pre-Pyrenees. It belongs to the community association Communauté de communes Arret Darré et Estéous and is capital of the canton Pouyastruc.

Geography

Pouyastruc is situated on the D632 between Lizos in the southwest and Castelvieilh in the Northeast, 3.3 km north-west of Boulin and 8 kilometers northeast of the town of Tarbes in the valley of the river Estéous in the Bigorre.

History

A nickname of Pouyastruc is Toupies ( " pottery " ), because the place was an important pottery center until the 19th century. Also the other nickname of the village, Los Escudelèrs ( " bowl ") to refer to the manufacture of pottery.

1793 Pouyastruc received the status of a municipality and in 1801 the right to local self-government in the wake of the French Revolution. In 1803 it became the capital of the canton, replacing Aubarède.

Most residents had Pouyastruc 1836 and 1851, after the population dropped to 1962 to 294 Since then, the community has grown again.

Economy

Until the advent of phylloxera in the 19th century Pouyastruc was a good wine region. Today there only a little wine production. Important economic activities are the timber industry, agriculture and the breeding of domestic swine and bovine animals. There is a sawmill on site.