Aigues-Vives is located in the north-east of Aude department in the Minervois area some 50 km west by north-west of Narbonne and 14 km east by north-east from Carcassonne. It is traversed by Highway D206 going north-east from Badens through the heart of the commune and the town and continues north-east out of the commune to Rieux-Minervois. Highway D57 also traverses the commune from Laure-Minervois in the north intersecting the Highway D206 in the town of Aigues-Vives and continuing south to join the east-west D610 highway.
The commune is entirely farmland except for the town and a hill on the western edge. There are a few scattered buildings but no villages or towns other than Aigues-Vives. The Ruisseau de Puits flows from the hill in the west to north of the town where it joins the Canal Nord. There are a few other streams in the commune including the Reals, the Mirausse, the Genet, the Mijane, the Canet, the Neuf, the Canal Sud, and the Rigole d'Aigues-Vives.[3]
The first document attesting to the existence of Aigues-Vives was transcribed from the LatinAquaviva in 994, although some say 993. It was an exchange between Udulgarius, Abbot of Caunes (Minervois) and Roger Trencavel, Viscount of Carcassonne.
Land with archaeological remains at Pataran cemetery[11]
The War memorial at Route de Badens (20th century)[12]
Other sites of interest
The Étang de Marseillette (Marseillette Pond) is adjacent to the village of Aigues-Vives but dried up in the 19th century. This depression of about 2000 hectares is irrigated by the Aude. The land is covered with crops mainly vineyards and apple orchards. The area of the dried-up pond of Marseillette is next to the Aigues-Vives houses.
A stately tower of the 13th century next to the church.
The natural bridge of Saint-Jean.
Religious heritage
The commune has one religious building that is registered as an historical monument:
The Church of Saint Alexandre (1530) has a tower that is a registered historical monument,[13] a Gothicchevet and a tower adjoining the church (which serves as a bell tower and whose bell dates to 1562). The Church contains one item that is registered as an historical object:
A Discoidal Steles can be seen under the Porch of the church.
The Cemetery contains 2 Funerary Steles (Middle Ages)[15]
Local life
In 1902, thanks to the Mayor, Eugene Ressier, Aigues-Vives became an electrified village. The STMF (Société Méridionale de Transport de Force), which was founded in 1900 by Joachim Estrade, installed electricity in the village.
Celebration and culture
Each year on the second Saturday in October, the "Cavinades" festival is held where winemakers offer tastings of their wine - white, rosé or red from the wine country Coteaux de Peyriac and Minervois.
On the following day each year there is also a celebration for apples, wine and rice.
Notable people linked to the commune
Pierre Bayle, a potter/ceramist, born in Aigues-Vives on 3 June 1945, died on 18 March 2004 in Béziers.
Lucien Trougnoux called Louis, born on 25 August 1901 in Louans (Indre-et-Loire),[16] died in June 1945 at the sanatorium in Goisern (Austria) was a French Resistance fighter. He refused the surrender of France in 1940 and the system of the French State of Petain-Laval. He was active in the French resistance. He was a member of a group affiliated with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services of the USA). In Carcassonne he ran the departmental office supplying straw and fodder which served as a cover. He was the central mailbox of the "Fred Tommy Brown" network and he kept the radio transmitter in his office in Carcassonne, then later at Aigues-Vives post office which was run by his wife. On Thursday, 17 November 1943, Lucien Trougnoux was arrested by the Gestapo and the French milice in his home in the Aigues-Vives Post Office (which still stands in 2007). He was imprisoned in the Baumettes Prison in Marseille until early March 1944. He was then deported to Mauthausen. Liberated in May 1945, Lucien Trougnoux died of sickness on 31 May 1945 at the sanatorium of the 1st Army of Colmar in Goisern (Austria).[17]
Bibliography
Devic & Dom Vaissete, General History of Languedoc, Toulouse (Privat) 1872–1885. (in French)
Mahul, Cartulary and Archives of the former Diocese and the Arrondissement of Carcassonne, Paris (Didron-Dumoulin) 1857–1885. (in French)
Antoine Sabarthès, Topographical Dictionary of Aude, Paris (Imprimerie Nationale) 1912. (in French)
Baichère, Historical Notes and observations on the Church, rural chapels, and old taxes, Academy of Arts and Sciences of Carcassonne in 1909. (in French)
Auzias & Rancoule, Various notes, Gallo-Roman Archaeology, Aigues-Vives, Society of Scientific Studies of Aude in Carcassonne 1978. (in French)
Marie-Elise Gardel, Frédéric Loppe and Corinne Sanchez, Aigues-Vives (Aude), a village in the Minervois: historical and archaeological study, Lay Association of Carcassonne History of Aigues-Vives (Aude), 2008, ISBN978-2-9502965-1-1. (in French)
Abbot Utheza, Monograph of Aigues-Vives (Aude). (in French)
Christophe Monié, A History of the drying up of the Marseillette pond the period Camman 1900–1942, Aigues-Vives November 2012. (in French)
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