Gazette N°56: the wood road between Murles and Montpellier (Hérault)

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Quiz!
We talk a little, a lot, passionately...
The wood road... Aqueduct of Castries Castle... History of Gignac... Did you know? So goes the time... The Pigeons of Provence... Naval history...
Vagabonds.
Some images from here, from there, a little further...
Photos from yesterday.
The Library of Passadoc

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Click! Listen...

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Alain Cathala

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The wood road between Murles and Montpellier

Before the XX^e heating and cooking were done in wood.
At the beginning of the XIII^e, the Consuls of Montpellier bought noble goods on Murles, namely the castle of Barons de Caravettes and the Bois de Valène.

The exploitation of this wood has greatly contributed to the wealth of the city of Montpellier. Thus it is estimated that the XIV^e and XV^e between 20 and 25% of the city's wealth came from sales of wood, charcoal, twigs and by-products extracted from Valène Wood.

Until the early 1960s, charcoal was still being produced in the commune of Murles, and wood cuts for firewood were still being made there...

Aqueduct of Castries Castle

In 1670, the source of Fontgrand, intended for feeding the castle of Castries (Herault), was collected. Located 7 kilometers away, the water from the spring is brought by an aqueduct for irrigation of the garden.

The conduct carried on bows is the work of Antoine and Jean Arman, carrying out the project of a brother Joachim, a hydraulician belonging to the Order of the Carmelites.

After a first underground part, the aqueduct rises rapidly on arches up to 20 meters high. The elevation between the spring and the castle gardens is three meters. Lequeduct was classified as Historical Monuments in 1949.

Source: Philippe Paçon – PHF

Gignac's story.

The Cordeliers moved to Gignac in 1210, building a convent near the maladry of the city. Saint-Antoine de Padua stayed there.

This convent was completely looted during the Wars of Religion, but the monks were restored in all their possessions by the Duke of Montmorency in 1622. This house was finally united with that of Alès by stop of 4 March 1774, which explains the thinness of this fund.

The archives of the Cordeliers de Gignac are of interest to keep a register of the convent's deliberations covering the period 1692-1730: receptions of professions, visits, foundations, heritage acquisitions are included. Although limited in time, this document gives a complete vision of the life of the convent after the wars of Religion. Other laws are procedures relating to property or pensions.

(Text Henri Oltra)

Philippe Natalini

Did you know?

During World War II, Marseille resistors realized the printing of false stamps with de Gaulle's effigy!

In 1942, a network of the Marseille resistance decided to strike a big blow and issue a stamp to General de Gaulle to send letters of intimidation and threats to the "collaborators" of the region.

The team's draftsman first made a very successful model. An employee of a large daily then made a cliché and the impression could begin. For printing, these clever resistors decided to use the central white stripe of the real sheets of 100 stamps, which had the same size as the stamps. This made it possible to use the same paper as the real ones, the paper being already erased...

To train the paper on the rudimentary printing machine, it was necessary to leave the two strips of 10 stamps surrounding the central strip. This is why the false stamp of Gaulle de Marseille was always printed between two true Pétain stamps. These stamps, taken from only 2,500 copies, were put into circulation at the beginning of 1943.

However, as the most strenuous resistors were used to address threats to certain high-ranking figures, and even to members of the Gestapo, this led to several investigations and resulted in numerous circulars from the Post Office and the Director of Services of the Marseille region to block mail bearing these stamps.

So goes the time...

... photographs of the bridge of the Garonne and Pedegal, linking Fréjus to Saint-Raphael, the city where I was born. These photographs that were taken at the same place, but at one year apart, are a striking contrast.

Indeed, in 1943, the German panzers crossed it towards Italy. On August 16, 1944, the allies crossed it, in the other direction after releasing the city.

Giselle Penat-Lorde

Pigeons in Provence

They are present throughout Provence, with an architecture that seems to be invented for tenants! We find them in the Christmas cribs. Look... "Pigeons are talking with flickering wings and passionate rubbings"!

Click! Photos and stories on this page

Claude Boyer

Naval history

The Russian Imperial Navy built several ships in France, under the Second Empire and then under the Third Empire.^e Republic. Perhaps the most important was the Tsarevich, launched on 10 February 1901 by the Compagnie des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée in La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var).

This battleship distinguished itself during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 for having been one of the few to resist the attacks of Japanese ships during the battles of Port Arthur and the Yellow Sea at the beginning of the conflict.

Photo source: tsushima. Su