Circuit de découverte d'Orcevaux

Orcevaux lies on a hillside at an altitude of 400m, at the foot of the rocky edge of the Langres Plateau and above the valley of the Losne or Flagey stream, a tributary of the Vingeanne. Its location near an ancient Gallo-Roman villa is undoubtedly linked to the emergence of several springs within its perimeter and its south-westerly exposure, sheltered from the winds sweeping across the Plateau. This favourable position explains the existence of a large vineyard until the 1880s (before the phylloxera invasion) and, today, the presence of many fruit trees, including the black guigne and the madeleine plum, which lend themselves well to distillation.
Orcevaux appears in history at the time of Charles the Fat, in 886. At that time, Geilon, Bishop of Langres, gave the priory of Saints-Geosmes twelve manses (family farms) and a chapel in the parish of Flagey, as well as estates and income, particularly in his annex of Orcevaux. Until the French Revolution, Orcevaux was simply a hamlet dependent on Flagey, with the entire Losne valley, from Flagey to the two Verseilles, lorded over by the prior of Saints-Geosmes, then after 1704 by the abbess of St-Pierre-aux-Nonnains in Troyes.
The commune of Orcevaux came into being in 1790, while retaining its religious affiliation with the parish of Flagey. Orcevaux currently has a population of around 130. In 1975, the population had fallen to 77. This "renaissance" is linked to the proximity of Langres, but undoubtedly more to the involvement of elected representatives and volunteers of all ages. This shared dynamism has helped to change the face of the village since the 1980s. Various restorations, new buildings, the creation of a multi-purpose festive complex in the centre of the village, flowers planted by the municipality and the residents (awarded several times by a departmental jury), the organisation of a cherry festival, the creation of a theatre group that has been playing to full houses for years, all bear witness to the desire of the Orcivalliens to belong to a lively, attractive and welcoming village.


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