Saint-Georges-du-Bois () is a commune, located in the department of Sarthe in Pays de la Loire region in northwestern France.

Located southwest of Le Mans and southwest of Paris as the crow flies or 55 minutes by train on TGV Atlantique. It is crossed by the county road 309 that connects Le Mans to Sablé-sur-Sarthe. A few kilometers away, the interchange Le Mans Sud on the highway A11 allows quick access to major cities in the west (Angers, Nantes, Tours or Rennes). The area only has one small stream, the Orne Champagne.

Geography

Location Located in the region of Pays de la Loire and the Department of Sarthe in the arrondissement of Le Mans and the canton of Le Mans-7 (since March 2015), Saint-Georges-du-Bois is located in the center of the department of Sarthe (), southwest of Le Mans and southwest of Paris as the crow flies or 55 minutes by train on TGV Atlantique from Paris Montparnasse station.

Having a small area (), Saint-Georges-du-Bois is traversed in the south by the Le Mans–Angers railway.

The boundaries of the municipalities have slightly changed over the centuries. It seems that the farms of Grand Beauvais and Cherelles, were attached to the parish of Fay until the mid-eighteenth century, when Fay as redistricted removing Pruillé-le-Chétif and Saint-Georges-du-Bois. Also, in January 1991, some of the streets in Allonnes were redistricted, becoming boisgeorgiens.

Two geodetic points, listed by IGN, are located in the municipality. These are the two high points, and visible from a great distance (several miles), which are used: the spire of the church and the water tower. There are also eleven benchmarks spread throughout the town.

Geology and terrain The lowest point of the municipality, , is between the farm of Herpinière and the railway (), while the highest point, is between the Grand Beauvais farm and Petite brosse farm (). The front of the church is at an altitude of .

The geology of Saint-Georges-du-Bois is almost entirely composed of sand and sandstone of Maine, dating from the Cenomanian era. Two areas of exceptions along the Orne Champagne are alluvial deposits (sands, silts and peats) and between the Libroreau farm and the railroad, composed of Glauconite clay, used in iron ore, date back to the lower Cenomanian. This clay is also found around the alluvium along the river.

Hydrology

There is only one water course of consequence through the town: the Orne champagne. This is a direct tributary of the Sarthe. It is a small river, with an average rate of per second. It bypasses the town to the north and crosses the Souligné-Flacé road at the Gué Perroux bridge. This is where the communal washhouse of 1855 stood in 1956 ().

Two small streams that flow through the town empty into the Orne champenoise at Étival-lès-le-Mans: Liboreau Creek (south-west of the town) () and the Beaumerie stream (located west of the town) ().

Water has always been a big problem for the town, strongly hindering its expansion until 1956, date of creation of the drinking water system. Until then, the town had as a sole water source Orne champenoise (located a few hundred meters from the village), a pool (located at the end of the current impasse of the pond), often dry and seven springs, six of which were private or reserved for a certain population (clergy, municipal employees). These fountains still exist in the current street fountains and on the back of the church.

Ecology

ZNIEFF natural area

An area of Saint-Georges-du-Bois is listed as "natural area of ecological interest, flora and fauna – Second Generation" number 004161 by Regional Directorate of the Environment. Described in 1999, the registration was validated in 2005. This area, with an area of 6 hectare, is part of the Gué Perroux woods located on the road to Souligné-Flacé ().

The criteria for the regional management of the environment for the inclusion of this area are

Bitter cress grows in very moist, shady places. This plant is edible and tastes like watercress.

Sustainable development Like most French communes, Saint-Georges-du-Bois works towards a better environment and follows the recommendations of Grenelle Environnement. Thus, a proactive plan to reduce power consumption of streetlights is in progress; while gradually renewing the old lights and using low energy light bulbs or other renewable energy sources.

The commissioning of a new wastewater treatment plant in 2009, after more than 2 years of work, has significantly reduced usage that is now well below current and future standards. Plans are to become more efficient with biological and chemical treatment of phosphorus, removal of nitrates in water output and a no bad smells from the sludge storage in sealed tanks.

Since 2002, the establishment, the community of communes of Bocage Cenomani, the sorting and valuation allows the community to offer many solutions to people: individual recycling bins, buckets for green waste, bins for large volumes, individual composters. The results are in: /capita/year of household waste and /person/year of recyclables or /capita/year while the estimated average by French Eco-Packaging is /person/year.

Since March 2010, at the request of the municipality, Sarthe Habitat 1st manager of social housing for Sarthe built the first social BBCs (bâtiment de basse consommation (low consumption buildings)) consisting of 20 houses with reinforced insulation, condensing, hot water by solar panels. The second phase is in progress, starting October 2009, with the launch of a study to create an ecodistrict: energy producing homes, ecologically sound roads, and intensive recycling. A third step started with the construction of 19 Habitat Sarthe BBC rental housing in the town. This work should start in 2012.

The construction of the school cafeteria, which opened on 13 October 2007, follows the concepts of HQE (Haute Qualité Environnementale (High Environmental Quality)) with a frame and wood cladding, solar panels for production of hot water, tanks for rainwater collection, and a choice of materials and energy used conforming with the logic of sustainable development.

Climate The climate of Saint-Georges-du-Bois is an oceanic climate. At this distance, the influence of the ocean is still noticeable, but weakened. The rainfall is weaker than in areas near the ocean. The city has about 54 days of frost a year, 1824 hours of sunshine with 249 hours in July and 57 hours in December. This area has 114 days of precipitation which is cumulative, ten snow days, sixteen days with thunderstorm and fifty-one days with fog.

The coldest temperature record was on 29 December 1964 while the hottest record temperature was on 6 August 2003.

Channels of Communication and transport

Current Main Roads

Saint-Georges-du-Bois is one of many French towns that grew beside a main roadways. For Saint-Georges-du-Bois, this is the county road 309. The main road was renamed several times: County road 1 by imperial decree of 16 December 1811 National Road 768 from 1933 until 1973 County road 309 (or CD 309) since.

Another road connects to county road 309 in the town center. This is county road 22 (the road to Souligné-Flacé) originally called arterial highway 10 by imperial decree. It was laid out in 1840 and the bridge crossing the Orne champenoise since 1852.

Georges-du-Bois in 1809. The first road signs were implemented in 1860, while the signs with the names of localities were installed over 100 years later, in 1968. Finally, the house numbers were assigned in April 1977.

Old roadways

The Sarthe departmental archives have uncovered the ancient names of other roads in the county.

Arterial highways: No. 10: currently provincial road 22 to Souligné-Flacé No. 11: currently route of the "cinq routes" (five roads) passing by the train station No. 26: currently path of chemin de Bel-Air

Major roads No. 4: currently road to Étival-lès-le-Mans in Saint-Georges-du-Bois (connecting to the "cinq routes")

Local roads: No. 2: currently rue de la Croix Sainte-Apolline No. 2: currently chemin de Montgré to Allonnes No. 2: currently route du Pavillon laid out in 1874. Bureaucrats having given us the joy of having, in history, three paths No. 2 in different places of the town.

Byways: No. 2: currently road from Saint-Georges-du-Bois to cinq routes (which was also called arterial highway No.11) No. 3: currently rue des Fouillées No. 4: currently route of Étival-lès-le-Mans to Allonnes laid out in 1871 No. 6: currently chemin de Cherelles

Rural roads: No. 1: currently rue des Fontaines laid out in 1892 No. 2: chemin de La Locherie No. 3: currently road of Pruillé-le-Chétif laid out in 1902 No. 5: chemin du Gué Perroux to Pruillé-le-Chétif (probably chemin de la fosse aux loups) No. 8: currently chemin des cinq routes to Génetay (which was also named arterial highway No. 10) No. 15: chemin des Hayes au Parc No. 18: chemin de la Foret at Montgré No. 20: chemin du petit Pin au Grand Liboreau No. 23: from la croix Sainte-Apolline to Allonnes (by Piraudiere) No. 24: chemin de La Locherie to the carrefour de la Chanière No. 25: currently chemin de la Cheminée No. 26: chemin de la Ferme des Roches to carrefour de la Chanière

Finally, in the course of history, some streets names have changed: Rue de la mare: currently impasse de la Mare Chemin des Sablons: currently rue des Fouillées Street Pruillé: street no longer exists across from rue des Fouillées Rue de derrière: street no longer exists along the city hall and going down to the bottom of town.

Rail

The Le Mans–Angers railway passes through the town. This railway is currently, among others, borrowed by the Atlantic TGV (see the train station ). It was created in 1863 by Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Ouest.

A train station was requested in August 1864, and repeatedly refused. A railway stop was built at railroad crossing No. 5 (named Genetay) and inaugurated by the prefect on 12 August 1900 to serve Allonnes, Étival-lès-le-Mans and Saint-Georges-du-Bois. Trains stopped in Saint-Georges-du-Bois until September 1971.

The railroad crossing number No. 5 was removed in October 1979. This is the only point of direct passage for the residents of the south end of the town, who must henceforth make a big detour (about to reach the town.

Many railway projects were proposed that also affected the town, but none came to pass: In August 1876, there was a streetcar project from Le Mans to Loué which would have crossed the town, In August 1882, the initial streetcar project from Le Mans to Saint-Denis-d'Orques through the town. The draft was amended and finally took the route of Lava In July 1891, the town required a slight detour to the future course of streetcar from Le Mans to Cérans-Foulletourte which makes a stop at de la croix Sainte Apolline. The route was changed and no longer passed through the town, In June 1997, the proposed Brittany high-speed line considering a move north of the town. This project has since been changed.

Public transportation Saint-Georges-du-Bois is served by Transports interurbain de la Sarthe (TIS). The bus line 8 (Sablé-sur-Sarthe – Le Mans) makes two stops in the town during its eight daily passages.

Several lines of school buses take students to Allonnes to Marin college at John Fitzgerald Kennedy college or high school André Malraux. Another line leads to the St. Joseph Lorraine school group of Pruillé-Chétif.

City planning

Urban morphology Although the town is small (723 hectare), it includes numerous farms. Thus, There are no less than 76 localities that are still identifiable.

Between the road to Le Mans (CD 309) and the road to Pruillé-Chétif (CR 3) are: Ardriers (Les), Bel-Air, Boulaie (La), Champfleury, Chaussumerie (La), Cheminée (La), Chevrons (Les), Forge (La), Fouillés (Les), Grande Gate (La), Kledy, Poulardière (La), Roche (La), Rosiers (Les), Sablière (La), Tamaris (Les), Vallée (La) and Vivier (Le).