Circulades

Mentioned as one of the earliest possessions of the Abbey of Aniane in a charter signed by Charlemagne en 777, the Château of Mont Calmès and the parish of Saint-Hilaire, thought to make up the original Puéchabon, are merely ruins that today have almost totally disappeared. Like the village of Le Pouget, Puéchabon arose from people settling together on an elevated strategic site in the 11th century.

Etymologically, Puéchabon would mean ‘The Puech belonging to Abon’. As regards ‘Puech’ the explanation is straightforward: in Occitan a ‘Puech’ or ‘Pioch’ is a mound. But even now, in the 21st century, we do not know who ‘Abon’ was! However, that is of small importance compared with the fact that Puéchabon is one of the jewels of our heritage. It is a ‘circulade’ that grew up around an 11th-century fortress, of which no traces remain. The most ancient building to be found in this hilltop village is the church of Saint-Pierre.

It is the former castle chapel and became a parish church when the church of St-Sylvestre des Brousses, situated 2 kilometres away, was abandoned as the principal church. It stood adjacent to the former fortress, and its apse and south wall date from the 12th century.

In fact, all the walls and ramparts of the village of Puéchabon date from that period, but the ramparts were reinforced throughout the 14th century and have had to be maintained in modern times. Unlike the numerous villages of the plain which have been taken over by viticulture, the village of Puéchabon stands in the garrigue. Consequently, the traditional activities that have developed there are olive-oil production, forestry, the raising of sheep, goats and pigs, the manufacture of charcoal and collection of holm-oak bark to provide tannin for the tanneries in Aniane.

Small-scale wine production produced enough for the needs of the villagers themselves but never expanded into commercial production. Puéchabon is one of those truly rustic villages that has managed to preserve its medieval character intact. A place to enjoy to the full…


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