Ablaincourt-Pressoir
Commune
The town hall of Ablaincourt
Location of Ablaincourt-Pressoir
Ablaincourt-Pressoir Show map of France Ablaincourt-Pressoir Show map of Hauts-de-France
Coordinates: 49°50′26″N 2°49′23″E / 49.8406°N 2.8231°E / 49.8406; 2.8231
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Somme
Arrondissement	Péronne
Canton	Ham
Intercommunality	Terre de Picardie
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Dany Domont[1]
Area 1	9.46 km2 (3.65 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	267
• Density	28/km2 (73/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Ablaincourtois, Ablaincourtoises
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	80002 /80320
Elevation	67–88 m (220–289 ft) (avg. 83 m or 272 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Ablaincourt-Pressoir (Picard: Ablaincourt-Pressor) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

The two villages were formerly separately administered, but were joined in 1966.

Geography

Ablaincourt-Pressoir is found in the Santerre sub-region, where early French Kings made their base, at Noyon.
The town is in a strategic position close to the intersections of the A1 Paris-Lille autoroute and the A29 autoroute between Amiens and Saint-Quentin. Two departmental roads meet nearby (the D150 and the D164). The town also an international TGV rail station, the Gare TGV Haute-Picardie, nicknamed "The sugar-beet station" named after the predominant crop of the area.

Etymology; Ancient forms of the names

• Ablaincourt

Abatix Curtis, Habelini Curtis (1046), Ablani Curtis, Ableni Curia (1106), Abbecourt (1144), Abiaucourt (1215), Ablaincort (1230), Ablincourt (1733) and finally, Ablaincourt, which signifies an abbey.

• Pressoir

Pressurs or Drêsur (1180).

History

• Ablaincourt

In 1215, Jean I de Nesle built a castle here. Remains of the motte can still be seen, which marks out the position of the keep.

In 1648, possession of the fiefdom of Ablaincourt passed from the Blattepière family to the Mathieu family.

During World War I Ablaincourt et Pressoir were at the centre of the Battle of the Somme. Both communes were totally ruined by the fighting.

Demographics

Data before 1966 in the table and graph below refer to the old commune Ablaincourt, before the merger with Pressoir.^[3] The population of Pressoir was 144 in 1851, 106 in 1896 and 64 in 1962.^[4]

People

• Eloi Driencourt, born in the hamlet of Bovent, Ablaincourt, doctor of the Sorbonne and for a while, advisor to Louis XV's queen, Maria Leszczyńska (1703–1768).
• Ludovic Hulin was elected in March 1995 and became the youngest mayor of Ablaincourt-Pressoir, at the age of 28.
• Reinhard Johannes Sorge, a German Roman Catholic poet and dramatist, died at a First Aid post located at the ruins of Ablaincourt-Pressoir on 20 July 1916. Sorge had been wounded by a hand grenade during the Battle of the Somme.