Bassussarry

Bassussary is located in the former province of Labourd and within the urban area of Bayonne some 5 km south-east of Biarritz and 4 km south by south-west of Bayonne. Access to the commune is by the D932 road from Anglet in the north which passes through the commune on the eastern side and continues south to Ustaritz. The town is in the west of the commune and can be accessed by the D254 road which branches from the D932 on the northern border of the commune and continues through the town west to join the D810 south-west of Biarritz Airport. The D3 comes from the A63 autoroute Exit  5  (Bayonne-Sud) to the town then south forming the western border of the commune and continuing to Arcangues. South-east of the town is another urban area of Betbeder. Much of the commune is urbanised with some areas of forest and meadows. The eastern part next to the D932 contains an industrial estate.[4][5]

Two bus services pass through and have stops in the commune operated by Transports 64:

• Service 860 Bayonne to Cambo-les-Bains
• Service 880 Bayonne to Arbonne

The commune lies in the drainage basin of the Adour with the Nive river forming the whole eastern border of the commune as it flows north to join the Adour. The Ruisseau d'Urdains flows from a small lake just south of the commune northwards, forming the north-eastern border of the commune, before joining the Nive in the north-eastern corner. The Ruisseau de Harrieta flows from the south-west of the commune to the north-east joining the Ruisseau d'Urbaine near the D932. The Ruisseau de Pétaboure rises in the north-west of the commune and forms the northern border as it flows east to join the Ruisseau de Harrieta in the commune.[4][5]

The commune name in Basque is Basusarri.[7] Jean-Baptiste Orpustan proposed a structure of baso meaning "forest" and sarri meaning "dense" or "tight" giving the overall meaning of "dense forest".[8]

The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.

Sources:

• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)[6]
• Orpustan: Jean-Baptiste Orpustan, New Basque Toponymy[8]
• Ldh/EHESS/Cassini: Ldh/EHESS/Cassini database (in French)
• Lhande: Pierre Lhande, Basque-French Dictionary, 1926 (in French)
• Register: Church Register of Bayonne[9]

Origins:

• Bayonne: Cartulary of Bayonne or Livre d'Or (Book of Gold)[10]
• Collations: Collations of the Diocese of Bayonne[11]
• Navarre: Titles of the Kingdom of Navarre[12]

Bassussarry appears as Baßußarry on the 1750 Cassini Map[13] and does not appear at all on the 1790 version.[14]

During the Peninsular War on 10 December 1813 Bassussarry was the scene of a battle between General Suchet and the Spanish-English.

Heraldry

Arms of Bassussarry

Blazon: Party per pale, at 1 Gules 2 wood pigeons Argent in pale; at 2 Vert 3 oak leaves Argent 2 and 1; in chief Sable charged with a fess wavy Argent.

List of Successive Mayors[15]

(Not all data is known)

In 2017 the commune had 3,126 inhabitants.

The War Memorial plaque in the church

The commune is in the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty

• Dominique Joseph Garat, born in 1749 at Bayonne and died in 1833 at Bassussarry, was a lawyer, journalist, and French philosopher. He was elected to the Académie française in 1803.
• Christophe-Louis Légasse, born in 1859 at Bassussarry and died in 1931 at Périgueux, was a French Catholic Prelate, successively Apostolic prefect in Saint Pierre and Miquelon from 1899 to 1915, Bishop of Oran from 1915 to 1920, and Bishop of Périgueux from 1920 to 1931.
• Christophe Hondelatte, journalist born in 1962 at Bayonne, grew up in Bassussarry.[20]

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department