The Sevron flows northward through the middle of the commune, then flows into the Solnan, which forms part of the commune's north-eastern border. The Sâne Morte forms most of the commune's western border.
Varennes-Saint-Sauveur is part of la Bresse louhannaise.
This commune offers a territory of forests and of farming where agricultural activities are the raising of milk cows and of the Bresse chickens.
La departmental highway 996 passes through Varennes from north to south.
Bodies of water
The Sevron River to Varennes, not far from the town.
Several rivers run through the commune: the Sâne Morte (especially to the eastern edge of Varennes), the Sevron and the Solnan (bordering Dommartin-lès-Cuiseaux then Frontenaud). It is at Varennes that the Sevron flows into the Solnan.
History
Up until the French Revolution, Varennes-Saint-Sauveur, a location of the Saône-et-Loire department which originating in 1801 on the diocese of Autun, depended on the diocese of Saint-Claude (founded in 1742).
In 1790, Buisserolles (or Busserolles), which is today a hamlet of Varennes, was at that time an independent commune attached to the Ain department and to the township of Saint-Trivier-de-Courtes, which numbered 843 inhabitants according to the 1793 census. It was attached to Varennes-Saint-Sauveur en 1793.
In 1793, Varennes-Saint-Sauveur, in the context of the Revolution, its name was changed and it became Varennes-sur-Sevron.
Politics and administration
List of successive mayors
Période Name Political Party Profession
? February 1816 Pierre Joseph Lyonnais
March 1816 January 1825 Claude Alexis Yoland de Saint-Mauris Royalist
January 1825 ? Claude Alexis Yoland de Saint-Mauris Royalist
1871 1878 Benoît Joseph Victor Collet
1878 1882 Jacques Saulnier
1882 1887 Valéry Collet
1887 1895 Jean Pierre Eugène Constantin Pillard
1896 1933 Victor Eugène Valéry Collet
1933 1946 Claude Raffin
1946 March 1959 Abel Coulon
March 1959 March 1965 Paul Guimet Physician
March 1965 December 1969 Henri Vincent Teacher
January 1970 March 2001 René Beaumont UMP Veterinarian, former deputy, senator and president of the general council of Saône-et-Loire
March 2001 to the present Jean-Michel Longin Responsable de bases
Demography
The change in the number of inhabitants has been found through the censuses of the population taken in the commune since 1793. Beginning in 2006, the official populations of the communes have been published annually by l'Insee. The census relies from that time forward on a collection of annual information, concerning successively all the communal territories over a period of five years. For communes of less than 10,000 inhabitants, an inquiry of census of the total population est taken every five years, the official populations of intervening years being as for them estimated by interpolation or extrapolation. For la commune, the first exhaustive census being in the framework of the new plan was done in 2007.
In 2016, the commune included 1,127 inhabitants, a decrease of 1.31% compared to 2011 (Saône-et-Loire : -0.18%, France except for Mayotte : +2.44%).
Locales and monuments
Bresse Dairy (la Bressane) : agricultural cooperative founded in 1939 which became a private enterprise in 1992, it was reorganized in 2010 and employs 90 employees (office and production) en 2014. It processes 9,000 tons of products per year in particular cottage cheese but Bresse butter AOC, Bresse cream AOC and dairy desserts.
Tilery (17th-18th centuries), classified a historical monument.
19th century church in the central city, restored in 2000.
Château Real (Royal Castle), at the entrance of Varennes-Saint-Sauveur, at the right, in coming from Louhans (beginning of the 19th century).
Château du Bouchat (16th century barn transformed in the 19th century: neo-Gothic and pigeon loft).
Manoir de Servillat [Servillat Manor] (19th century).
Personalities connected to the commune
Brunehilde who took refuge for a time in Burgundy during the uprising of the powerful leaders of Austrasia, left the name of «La Reine» ["the Queen"] to an intersection of Varennes-Saint-Sauveur on Highway D 996 in the direction of Louhans.
Gaby Basset, French actress, wife of Jean Gabin; she appeared in 70 films between 1930 and 1967.
Bernard Bourgeois, philosopher, expert in Kant and Hegel ; elected 2 December 2002 to the philosophy section of the Academy of moral and political sciences, to the chair of d'Olivier Lacombe.
René Beaumont, UMP senator, president of the general counsel of Saône-et-Loire from 1985 to 2004, deputy of Saône-et-Loire (proportional ballot) from 1986 to 1988 then deputy of the 6th district (Louhans) from 1988 to 1997, defeated in 1997 by Arnaud Montebourg, member of PS (Socialist Party).