Cintegabelle (; , ) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. Historically and culturally, the commune is in the Aganaguès region or Ariège plain, sometimes called lower Ariège, or Ariège foothills.
Exposed to an altered oceanic climate, it is mainly drained by the Ariège River and its tributary, the Hers, which flows into the Ariège within its boundaries. Various small rivers irrigate the commune, such as the Galage, the Jade, the Calers stream, the Aure de Canté, the Cornus stream, and the Palanquelle stream. The commune boasts a remarkable natural heritage: a Natura 2000 site ("Garonne, Ariège, Hers, Salat, Pique, and Neste"), a protected area ("Garonne, Ariège, Hers Vif, and Salat"), and six natural areas of ecological, faunal, and floristic interest.
Cintegabelle is a rural commune with 2,994 inhabitants in 2022, having experienced a significant population increase since 1975. It is part of the Toulouse catchment area. Its inhabitants are called Cintegabellois () or Cintegabelloises ().
The town's architectural heritage includes four buildings protected as historic monuments: the Bouyssou Dovecote, listed in 1946; Boulbonne Abbey, listed in 1981; Notre-Dame Church, listed in 1984; and Secourieu Park, listed in 1988.
Etymology The earliest known attestation of this name is the ipse alode de Sancta Gabella in the will of Hugh, Bishop of Toulouse (960). Devic and Vaissete, in their Histoire générale de Languedoc, even specify that Hugh had given one of his clerics, named Loup, the church of Sainte-Marie where the body of Saint Gabella was buried. They add, however, that nothing is known for certain about this saint.
In the current state of knowledge, it must be considered a hagiotoponym, but this saint appears nowhere other than in the work of Devic and Vaissete, who, moreover, cast doubt on her existence. She is most likely a saint imagined by the inhabitants of the region based on a common name. In the Middle Ages, in fact, proper names were attributed magical virtues. This is how the name of a saint was modified to make them the healer of an illness.
Dauzat and his successors linked this toponym to the gabela, "salt tax." However, this name is only attested in French from 1330 onward, and probably later in Occitan. It is therefore better to refer to the Occitan gavèla, "sheaf of wheat." The Occitan cincta is a remotivation, based on a pronunciation *sinta, a variant of santa/senta, as it only appears in the 16th century, nearly 300 years after the attestations with Santa/Sancta.
Geography The commune of Cintegabelle is located in the Haute-Garonne department, in the Occitanie region.
It is 33 km as the crow flies from Toulouse, the departmental prefecture, 23 km from Muret, the sub-prefecture, and 6 km from Auterive, the central office of the canton of Auterive, which has been the commune's administrative center for departmental elections since 2015. The commune is also part of the Auterive catchment area.
The nearest communes are: Saint-Quirc (4.7 km), Aignes (4.8 km), Mauvaisin (4.9 km), Lissac (5.1 km), Caujac (5.3 km), Labatut (5.8 km), Grazac (6.1 km), and Auterive (6.1 km).
Historically and culturally, Cintegabelle is part of the Aganaguès region or Ariège plain, sometimes called the lower Ariège or Ariège foothills. This region, whose origins probably date back to the Carolingian period, encompasses the Pamiers plain and, by extension, the Saverdun plain.
Cintegabelle borders ten other communes, five of which are in the Ariège department.
Geology and relief The area of the commune is 5,292 hectares, making it the fourth largest area in Haute-Garonne; its altitude varies from 185 to 302 meters. Hydrology
The commune is in the Garonne basin, within the Adour-Garonne hydrographic basin. It is drained by the Ariège, the Grand Hers, the Galage, the Jade, the Ruisseau de Calers, the Aure de Canté, the Cornus stream, the Palanquelle stream, the Saint-Colomb stream, a branch of the Ariège, Rec de la Garenne de Daban, the Blandin stream, the Dabiou stream, constituting a hydrographic network of 70 km in total length. Climate In 2010, the commune's climate was classified as a Southwest Basin climate, according to a study based on a series of data covering the period 1971–2000. In 2020, Météo-France published a typology of climates in metropolitan France, in which the commune is exposed to an altered oceanic climate and is located in the Aquitaine-Gascon climate region, characterized by abundant rainfall in spring and moderate rainfall in autumn, low sunshine in spring, hot summers (19.5°C), light winds, frequent fog in autumn and winter, and frequent thunderstorms in summer (15 to 20 days).
For the period 1971–2000, the average annual temperature was 13.1°C, with an annual temperature range of 15.7°C. The average annual cumulative precipitation is 735 mm, with 9.6 days of precipitation in January and 5.6 days in July. For the period 1991-2020, the average annual temperature observed at the nearest weather station, located in the commune of Ségreville 26 km away as the crow flies, is 13.4 °C and the average annual cumulative precipitation is 747.6 mm. For the future, the climatic parameters of the commune estimated for 2050 according to different greenhouse gas emission scenarios can be consulted on a dedicated site published by Météo-France in November 2022. Natural environments and biodiversity Protected areas Regulatory protection is the most effective means of intervention to preserve remarkable natural spaces and their associated biodiversity.
The commune has one protected area: the "Garonne, Ariège, Hers Vif, and Salat" rivers, covered by a biotope protection order, covering an area of 1,658.7 hectares. Natura 2002 Network
The Natura 2000 network is a European ecological network of natural sites of ecological interest developed from the habitats and birds directives, consisting of special areas of conservation (SAC) and special protection areas (SPA). A Natura 2000 site has been defined in the commune under the habitats directive: "Garonne, Ariège, Hers, Salat, Pique and Neste", with an area of 9,581 ha, a hydrographic network for migratory fish (active and potential spawning grounds important for salmon in particular which is the subject of regular stocking and whose adults already reach Foix on the Ariège. Natural areas of ecological, faunal and floral interest
The inventory of natural areas of ecological, faunal, and floral interest (ZNIEFF) aims to cover the most ecologically interesting areas, primarily with a view to improving knowledge of the national natural heritage and providing various decision-makers with a tool to help them take the environment into account in land use planning. Four type 1 ZNIEFFs are listed in the commune:
the "Bébeillac woods and Calmont heights" (262 ha), covering four communes, including one in Ariège and three in Haute-Garonne; the "Cours de l'Ariège" (1,341 ha), covering 56 communes, including 43 in Ariège and 13 in Haute-Garonne; the "Cours de l'Hers" (891 ha), covering 41 communes, including 32 in Ariège, seven in Aude, and two in Haute-Garonne; the "Terraces of Picorel and La Gardette" (50 ha), covering two communes in the department; and two type 2 ZNIEFFs:
"L'Ariège et riparian forests" (1,975 ha), covering 56 communes, including 43 in Ariège and 13 in Haute-Garonne; "L'Hers et riparian forests" (1,417 ha), covering 41 communes, including 32 in Ariège, seven in Aude, and two in Haute-Garonne. Urban planning Typology As of 1 January 2024, Cintegabelle is categorized as a rural commune with dispersed housing, according to the new seven-level municipal density grid defined by INSEE in 2022. It is located outside an urban unit. Furthermore, the commune is part of the Toulouse catchment area, of which it is a suburban commune. This area, which includes 527 communes, is categorized in areas of 700,000 inhabitants or more (excluding Paris). Land use The land use of the municipality, as shown in the European biophysical land use database Corine Land Cover (CLC), is marked by the importance of agricultural land (87.9% in 2018), a decrease compared to 1990 (90.6%). The detailed breakdown in 2018 is as follows: arable land (82.2%), forests (5.8%), heterogeneous agricultural areas (5.2%), urbanized areas (3.3%), continental waters (1.6%), mines, landfills and construction sites (1.2%), meadows (0.5%). The evolution of the land use of the commune and its infrastructure can be observed on the various cartographic representations of the territory: the Cassini map (18th century), the general staff map (1820-1866) and the IGN maps or aerial photos for the current period (1950 to today).
Place names and differences Former parishes of Les Baccarets and Picarrou. Numerous hamlets and localities including Boulbonne (former abbey), Picarrou, Les Baccarets, Le Port and Fantou. Communication routes and transport By road: former RN 20. By plane: Toulouse-Blagnac Airport. Line 318 of the Arc-en-Ciel network connects Toulouse bus station from the city center.
Cintegabelle station, a train station located in the commune, is served by TER Occitanie trains, mainly connecting Toulouse-Matabiau, Foix, and Latour-de-Carol - Enveitg stations. Major risks The territory of the commune of Cintegabelle is vulnerable to various natural hazards: weather (storms, thunderstorms, snow, extreme cold, heatwaves or drought), floods, ground movements and earthquakes (very low seismicity). It is also exposed to a technological risk, the rupture of a dam. A site published by BRGM allows you to simply and quickly assess the risks of a property located either by its address or by its plot number. Natural risks Certain parts of the municipal territory are likely to be affected by the risk of flooding due to overflowing watercourses, notably the Hers-Vif, the Galage, the Jade and the Calers stream. The municipality has been declared to be in a state of natural disaster due to the damage caused by floods and mudslides that occurred in 1982, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2018 and 2022.
Cintegabelle is vulnerable to the risk of ground movement, mainly due to the shrinkage and swelling of clay soils. This hazard can cause significant damage to buildings in the event of alternating periods of drought and rain. The entire commune is at medium or high risk (88.8% at the departmental level and 48.5% at the national level). Of the 1,298 buildings counted in the municipality in 2019, 1,298 are at medium or high risk, i.e., 100%, compared to 98% at the departmental level and 54% at the national level. A map of the national territory's exposure to the shrinkage and swelling of clay soils is available on the BRGM website.
Furthermore, to better understand the risk of land subsidence, the national inventory of underground cavities allows us to locate those located in the commune.
Regarding land movements, the commune was recognized as being in a state of natural disaster due to damage caused by drought in 1990, 2003, 2012 and 2017 and by land movements in 1999. Technological risks The municipality is also located downstream from the dams of Montbel (Ariège), Gnioure, Naguilhes (Ariège), Laparan (Ariège) and Soulcem (Ariège). As such, it is likely to be affected by the flood wave following the rupture of one of these structures.
History
The commune's territory has been populated since the Lower Paleolithic period. The 16th century was Cintegabelle's heyday, thanks to woad. There were as many as twenty-two woad mills.
On 18 June 1999, an explosion damaged the Cintegabelle tax office and caused damage to nearby houses. The attack was claimed by the Breton Revolutionary Army. Politics and administration Municipal administration The number of inhabitants in the 2011 census being between 2,500 inhabitants and 3,499 inhabitants in the last census, the number of members of the municipal council is twenty-three.