Sites of historical interest

BRIDGES

The Devil’s Bridge

t the beginning of the Hérault Gorges, at the place called “the black chasm”, the old Romanesque bridge, built into the steep banks, crosses the river at its narrowest point. It is about fifty metres long and is made up of two main round arches and two secondary ‘inlets’, intended to allow floodwater to escape.

It was built between 1025 and 1030 by the two nearby abbeys of Aniane and Gellone which jealously held sway over their respective riverbanks.

The Abbey of Saint-Sauveur in Aniane and its monks undertook to provide the materials: stone, lime, sand, iron, lead and ropes. The role of the Abbey of Saint-Gellone and its monks was to pay the architect.

It is considered to be one of the oldest French medieval bridges and is evidence of the early introduction of Romanesque art into the region. The stone quarry can still be seen in the gorges on the left bank of the river. It was included in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments in 1945 and, since 1998 has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the French section of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Today, to cross the river, the new bridge that was built in 1932 is used.

> The Legend of the Devil’s Bridge

The Gignac Bridge

This was built in the 18th century, the golden age for French road-building, as part of the royal road from Montpellier to Paris that crossed the Auvergne. It was planned in 1774 by the engineer and architect, Garipuy the Younger, and the work took 36 years. Its model in miniature, the Arnoux bridge, near Gignac, gives some idea of the scale of the project. It is 175 metres long and has a single large basket arch crossing the entire width of the river in a singe span. It has two other much narrower arches.

The Hérault Bridge

A new bridge over the river Hérault between Gignac and St-André-de-Sangonis on the A750 motorway is under construction and is due to be finished in July 2007. This undertaking, a triumph of technology, will cross the river Hérault in a single span, with a single arch and with a half-arch on the left bank, which will give it a streamlined appearance.

THE CANAL DE GIGNAC

It was during the phylloxera epidemic that ravaged the vines at the end of the 19th century that a plan was drawn up for a canal that would make it possible to flood the vineyards.

Later, this irrigation canal was to assist in the development and diversification of agriculture in the valley. This irrigation canal was built between 1889 and 1896 and has its source a few kilometres upstream from the village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. It then flows alongside the Hérault Gorges. Part of the water continues on its way along the left bank of the river for 27 kilometres whilst another branch crosses the river Hérault by means of an aqueduct (the canal bridge) to irrigate the land on the right bank through a 15-kilometre-long channel. In addition to the construction of the main canal, channelling the water, there is a distribution network made up of 250 kilometres of smaller channels.

THE MILLS

From the Middle Ages onwards, a large number of mills were built along the river Hérault to make use of the water power. In the architectural and economic landscape of the time, mills for grinding wheat or oil were an essential driving force in village life. They were a symbol of the power of the lords and a focus for the peasant population who came to mill their grain in exchange for payment in kind.

The communal water mill in Bélarga (13th century): This was a typical example of the small mill with a mill pond, formerly equipped with a breast wheel.

The Tour de Plancameil Mill (12th century): a cloth mill in the 15th and 17th centuries, then a wheat and a fuller’s mill in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The mills at the Brunan Caves (12th century): their unusual half-moon architecture must have enabled them to withstand the particularly strong flooding to which the Hérault is liable at this point where the riverbed narrows.

The Clamouse Mill (11th century): The mills, built of limestone and sand have long managed to resist the river’s frequent floods. There were also several mills on the Verdus at Saint Guilhem-le-Désert.

FOUNTAINS GRIFFES or GRIFOULS

The water was channelled, tamed and brought into the heart of the villages. Many fountains were built, equipped with bowls that served as water-troughs for the animals. Some of these fountains were decorated with animal faces or ‘griffons’ (mythical beasts), hence the name “griffes” or “grifouls”. Drinking-fountains and washhouses were for centuries the favourite meeting-place for the people of the villages.