Tressan

For the saint, see Saint Tressan.

Tressan (French pronunciation: [tʁɛsɑ̃]; Occitan: Treçan) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France.

Tressan
Commune
A general view of Tressan
Coat of arms
Location of Tressan
Tressan Tressan
Coordinates: 43°34′32″N 3°29′27″E
Country	France
Region	Occitania
Department	Hérault
Arrondissement	Lodève
Canton	Gignac
Intercommunality	Vallée de l'Hérault
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Daniel Jaudon
Area 1	3.92 km2 (1.51 sq mi)
Population  (2021)	684
• Density	170/km2 (450/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	34313 /34230
Elevation	17–100 m (56–328 ft) (avg. 80 m or 260 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Subject to a Mediterranean climate, the area is drained by the Hérault and Dourbie rivers. The commune hosts remarkable natural heritage, featuring two natural areas of ecological, faunistic, and floristic interest (Zone naturelle d'intérêt écologique, faunistique et floristique, ZNIEFF). Tressan is a rural commune with a population of 684 as of 2021, following significant growth since 1975. It is part of the Montpellier attraction area. Its inhabitants are known as Tressanais (for men) and Tressanaises (for women).

Geography

Map

Tressan is located on the road between Gignac and Pézenas, extending across a hill in the Hérault Valley.

The neighboring communes are Canet, Le Pouget, Puilacher, Bélarga, Paulhan and Aspiran.

Climate

In 2010, the climate of the commune is classified as a frank Mediterranean climate, according to a study based on a dataset covering the 1971-2000 period. In 2020, Météo-France published a typology of climates in mainland France in which the commune is exposed to a Mediterranean climate and is part of the Provence, Languedoc-Roussillon climatic region, characterized by low rainfall in summer, very good sunshine (2,600 h/year), a hot summer 21.5 °C (71 °F), very dry air in summer, dry conditions in all seasons, strong winds (with a frequency of 40 to 50% for winds > 5 m/s), and little fog.

For the 1971-2000 period, the average annual temperature was 14.7 °C (58 °F) with an annual atmospheric temperature of 16.4 °C (62 °F). The average annual total rainfall during this period was 669 mm, with 6.1 days of precipitation in January and 2.7 days in July. For the subsequent period of 1991 to 2020, the average annual temperature observed at the nearest weather station, located in the commune of Saint-André-de-Sangonis, 8 kilometres (5 mi) away as the crow flies, is 15.5 °C (60 °F), and the average annual total rainfall is 652.4 mm.

For the future, climate parameters for the commune projected for 2050, based on different greenhouse gas emission scenarios, can be consulted on a dedicated website published by Météo-France in November 2022.

Urbanism

Typology

As of January 1, 2024, Tressan is classified as an ‘bourg rural’ (rural township) according to the new seven-level commune density grid established by Insee in 2022. The commune is located outside of any urban unit. Additionally, Tressan belongs to the Montpellier attraction area, where it is designated as a commuter town. This area, encompassing 161 communes, falls under the category of areas with 700,000 inhabitants or more (excluding Paris).

Land Use

The land use in the commune, as recorded in the European biophysical land use database, Corine Land Cover (CLC), is characterized by agricultural areas (87.7% in 2018), an approximately equivalent proportion compared to that of 1990 (89.2%). The detailed distribution in 2018 was as follows: permanent crops (73.3%), heterogeneous agricultural areas (14.4%), urban areas (9%), shrub and/or herbaceous vegetation environments (2.8%), inland waters (0.5%). Changes in the commune’s land use and infrastructure can be observed on various cartographic representations of the area: the Cassini map (18th century), the military topographic map (1820–1866), and IGN maps or aerial photographs from 1950 to the present day.

Map of Infrastructure and Land Use in the Commune in 2018 (CLC)

Population

Changes in the number of inhabitants have been documented through population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. For communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, a full census of the population is conducted every five years, with the legal populations for the intervening years estimated through interpolation or extrapolation. For this commune, the first complete census under the new system was carried out in 2005.

In 2021, the commune had a population of 684, reflecting an increase of +7.38% since 2015 (Hérault: +7.29%, France excluding Mayotte: +1.84%).

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 437 —     1800 472 +1.11% 1806 516 +1.50% 1821 555 +0.49% 1831 535 −0.37% 1836 512 −0.87% 1841 504 −0.31% 1846 508 +0.16% 1851 525 +0.66% 1856 513 −0.46% 1861 503 −0.39% 1866 461 −1.73% 1872 456 −0.18% 1876 462 +0.33% 1881 458 −0.17% 1886 389 −3.21% 1891 506 +5.40% 1896 507 +0.04% 1901 531 +0.93% 1906 512 −0.73%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1911 461 −2.08% 1921 516 +1.13% 1926 515 −0.04% 1931 585 +2.58% 1936 553 −1.12% 1946 503 −0.94% 1954 450 −1.38% 1962 465 +0.41% 1968 386 −3.06% 1975 318 −2.73% 1982 303 −0.69% 1990 299 −0.17% 1999 402 +3.34% 2005 467 +2.53% 2006 469 +0.43% 2010 539 +3.54% 2015 637 +3.40% 2020 685 +1.46% 2021 684 −0.15%
Source: Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1999, and INSEE since 2006.

Notable people born in Tressan

• Louis de La Vergne-Montenard de Tressan

See also

• Communes of the Hérault department

Notes and references