The panoramic Cévennes via Mont Aigoual

Rue Armand Jullié used to be Florac’s trading street and would have been lined with workshops with typical shop fronts. Mule drivers once used this road to carry their goods from the Auvergne down to the Midi, before they were replaced by cart drivers and finally wagoners. More than twenty wagoners would stop off in Florac at the turn of the 20th century. They would rest here and, before resuming their journey, would take on additional horses to help climb the steep hills that awaited them on the road ahead.

In the 16th and17th centuries, a large number of religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants affected the Cévennes, bringing with them much destruction. After the Peace of Alais was signed by Richelieu and the Duke of Rohan in June 1629, Protestants retained the right to practise their religion, but their fortifications were razed. This included Florac's town walls. The house bearing this information panel is one of the town's oldest: its tower used to watch over Thérond Gate. It also stands at the crossroads of the former road linking Nîmes with Saint-Flour and the former road from Florac to Séverac via the Causse plateau.

The covered passage of the sub-prefecture is one of several in Florac, running beneath the houses. You have just gone through the former town wall and now find yourself inside the medieval town. Besides the beautiful ancient plane trees (the oldest are 200 years old), you can see, at one end, the statue of Léon Boyer, who built the Garabit viaduct with Gustave Eiffel and died in 1883 in Panama, where he was working on the construction of the Canal; and at the other end, the temple (Protestant church) and the War Memorial.

Cave dwellers used to live in the rocks of Rochefort (at an altitude of 1,054 m) as far back as the Bronze Age. That is also where the first feudal castle was built. In the Gallo-Roman era, Florac was probably only a rural estate. The medieval village developed on the small hill overlooking the Vibron, next to the church in the Fourniol district. The population passed the 1,000 mark in the 18th century, and stood at 2,236 in 1852. Since the early 20th century, it has remained relatively stable at around 2,000 inhabitants.

Originally built to house a hospital, this building became a Capuchin convent in the 17th century. Subsequently transformed back in to a hospital, it has since also been the seat of the sub-prefecture and a religious institution. It is known as the “house of the Congregation” and is today used as a private school. We have to picture it in the late 17th century, when this district was densely populated, teemed with life and saw much economic activity: textile craftsmen, leather craftsmen, mule drivers, carters and innkeepers, who made their living from the merchants and goods passing through.

The original church, the Chaise-Dieu Priory church, stood on the site of the current church, surrounded by a cemetery. Between the 13th and 15th century, Florac was known for the power struggle between its priory and its lord, who lived on the other side of the Bibrou (Vibron) river. The church was destroyed in 1561 and a temple (Protestant church) built on its vestiges. Florac was devastated many times by religious wars: the temple, the clock and the church tower were all destroyed at the beginning of the 17th century (1629). The current Catholic church, built in the neoclassical style, dates from 1833, just like the temple on the Esplanade.

This river has been used as the drinking-water supply for the town’s many fountains, to irrigate its gardens, power up to eight water mills and provide water for a fish farm. In the old days, it was also used for public wash-houses, tanneries and as a drain for waste water.

The ferradou was once the place where oxen were shod. It is located next to the public weigh house on the former fairground, where Florac’s thirteen annual fairs used to be held. These fairs were an occasion for trade between the regions. People would come from the Causses, Cévennes, Mont Lozère and even further afield to sell their sheep, goats, cows, oxen and pigs. Wine, chestnuts, wheat, fruit, clogs and woollen cloth would also have been sold. These fairs were also great festivities, which some people celebrated by drinking beyond reason before staggering back to their villages!

Situated upstream of the former Draille Bridge, the fish farm carries on a local tradition of fish farming that was no doubt ancient. Behind the fish farm you will find one of Florac’s former mills (the mill of the spring). The mills served several purposes: grinding wheat, pressing walnuts for oil, fulling wool, etc.

Florac castle was rebuilt in 1652, after the religious wars, and now stands on the spot of the former feudal castle, mentioned in records dating back to the early 13th century. During the French Revolution, the castle was turned into a salt loft for storing salt. Sold to the French State in 1810, it was used as a prison. It still retains some features of that period. Since 1976, the castle has been the seat of the Cévennes National Park.

The spring of the Pêcher surges in several places from a big mass of fallen rocks. It has not been possible so far to explore any of these points further. The spring provides a lot of water, but in irregular quantities:
• low flow rate: between 80 L/s and 200 L/s
•  average flow rate: between 1,250 L/s and 7,000 L/s
The average temperature is 10 to 10.2°C.

This limestone plateau continues to be grazed by flocks of sheep. Note the piles of stones, called clapas. They are not there by chance! They are the result of locals clearing their fields and pastureland of stones. These piles shelter many species.

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So called because it used to be where most of Barre’s farmers came to thresh their grains using flails. This technique, known since Gallo-Roman times, was for a long time the most widely used.

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Limestone is made up of thin layers topped by thicker ones. Water penetrates into the rock’s interstices and, when it freezes, fractures it. The base layers are more fissured and therefore eliminated more quickly. That is how the overhangs you can see at three different heights were created. These rocky environments have an important ecological role because they are a refuge for certain species of plants (French-leaf sorrel) and animals (little owl). A little further down, some seeps support wetland vegetation: horsetails, hemp-agrimony. This is also a meeting-point for many butterflies (great banded grayling, marbled white), which are the only creatures that can reach the nectar deep inside hemp-agrimonies and plume thistles.

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This little square, located at the north-eastern entrance to the village, was where the “loue” (hiring) used to be held during the great spring and autumn fairs: shepherds, domestics and chestnut gatherers would sit on the parapet and hope for an employer to take them on. The village hosted 12 to 15 fairs every year. The spring and autumn ones could attract up to ten thousand people from neighbouring departments, but also from the Var, Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône. This village-rue (one-road village) was protected at each end by a fortified gate. One of them, called the Florac Gate, stood near the Place de la Loue. It was destroyed in the early 19th century.

The erosion caused by the Malzac, weaker than that caused by the Griboulle, has left more land usable for crops and fields. This allows farmers to keep a few cow herds. The region’s climate, relief and soils force its inhabitants to base the local economy on agricultural and forestry activities of low productivity. At the same time, climatic and environmental variety generates a large range of plant and animal species, the source of abundant bio-diversity. The Cévennes National Park has worked hard to conserve this wealth by re-introducing some species that had disappeared: roe deer, stags, the Western capercaillie, beavers, and the griffon vulture.

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Barre was built on the contact zone between sandstone and mica schist. Several springs and seeps emerge from this impermeable zone, which feed into the village’s fountains and garden wells. The oldest, the Théron Fountain, has been restored several times. The typical Barre house is generally taller than it is wide, probably to avoid encroaching on cultivatable land. On the ground floor would have been a shop, workshop, storage space, or the stable; on the first floor, the kitchen; and above that one or two bedrooms. At the very top, a hay loft would have been used to store hay and straw.

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These rocks offer a plant habitat comparable to stone walls, but plants have been established here for longer. Most shelter along fissures or shelves, where they can find a few minerals and organic matter, leaving the smooth rock faces to lichens. The dolomite rock has created particular soil conditions here, which are favourable to certain plants such as Kernera saxatilis. Erosion has created small cavities that shelter certain birds, such as the black redstart (phoenicurus ochruros) in summer and the alpine accentor (prunella collaris) in winter.

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Begun in 1823 and finished in 1826, this temple was Barre’s third. Its architecture is similar to that of all the temples built at this time. The first temple had been constructed in 1608 near the Catholic church, shortly after the arrival of Protestantism in the region. Only one of its stones still exists and can today be seen in the facade of a house on the main street, inscribed: “He who is of God hears the word of God – 1608”. In 1675 Protestants built a second temple below the village. It was destroyed on Royal orders in 1685 following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (which re-criminalised Protestantism), forcing Protestants to hold their religious gatherings in the mountains.

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Different types of rock were used to build the village, as in the courtyard on your left, in particular limestone (5) and quartzite (2) for houses. Additionally, sandstone (4) and granite (1) were used for retaining walls, and mica schist for roofs (3). These rocks came from the immediate surroundings of Barre, where they make up the landscape’s structure. This can be seen in the foreground, looking south-west. On each side of the narrow street are the terraced gardens. This system, typical of mountain regions, makes it possible to retain soil by reducing gradients. Oral tradition has it that local lords granted their feudal tenants these gardens free of charge.

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Constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Château was entirely rebuilt in the early 16th century. From 1710 to 1715, it was modified by the Lord of Barre, who had his coat of arms carved above the entrance. Two towers were also added at this time. During the 1789 Revolution, the coat of arms disappeared under vigorous hammer strokes. In the early 19th century, during an expansion, the main tower was removed.

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The fountain dates from the 18th century. At the end of the 19th  century, the bust of Marianne – the personification of the French Republic – was added. At the same time, a poplar was planted by republican youth as a symbol of freedom. From here, you can see several bourgeois houses, which mostly date from the 17th and 18th centuries. They bear witness to the village’s thriving past, when it had some 20 voituriers (merchant-carters), who would drive their carts down to the plains laden with wool and chestnuts and return with salt, wine and oil. Under the houses' large porches, harnesses and carts were kept. During fairs, the seed market took place in these vaults and those of the town hall.

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“Schools Square” has changed name several times over the years. In the Middle Ages, it was known as PourcariéSqaure because it hosted the pig market. Later the market also opened up to oxen, horses and mules, and was therefore renamed the Fairground Square. It was the most important area of the fairs, where the largest sums of money changed hands. During the Protestant Camisard Rebellion (1702-1704), the square was protected by a large wooden palisade. During the 1789 French Revolution, the National Guard held arms drills here, and its name changed to Arms.

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Barre’s third fountain used to stand on this square, where the pig market was held from the 16th century onwards. At the entrance to the main road was the Cévennes Gate, dismantled in 1836 because it obstructed carts. The houses adjoining this Gate and the Florac Gate were requisitioned during the Camisard War to house the King’s soldiers. At the time, Barre was one of their main garrisons.

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The Castelas, a butte, is a vestige of the area’s former limestone top layer. It has been cut off from the great Causses by erosion. It was settled in about 2500 BC by tribes from the scrublands of Languedoc. On the three rocks left by erosion are ten or so rectangular holes. They are believed to have supported the base of a wooden signal tower.

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No water runs in this little gully in the summer. You can see a large number of ash trees of a particular shape caused by regular pruning, called “tadpole”. Ash trees prefer relatively deep and humid soils, but locals have privileged it here over its direct rivals (willows, aspen, and hazelnuts). Celts and Germanic tribes already considered the ash a sacred tree, believing it to attract lightning and beneficial rains. Its hard and elastic wood is much appreciated in cabinet-making. It is also used for tool handles. The first skis were made of ash. Farmers use ash leaves as supplementary fodder for livestock.

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The landscape stretching eastwards is characterised by forest. Over 60% of the surface area is covered in woods, of which 40% are conifers. Many of the latter are species introduced by the Office National des Forêts (the body that manages state forests): European Black Pines and Nordmann Firs on the heights, Douglas Firs in the depressions. Scots Pines – an indigenous species which colonised former sheep pastures after they were abandoned at the end of the 19th century – are usually relegated to poor and thin soils. Only 20% of the wooded area is taken up by deciduous trees, essentially beeches, sessile oaks and birches.

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Some 10 metres below the path, there are areas of denuded, strongly eroded sandstone. These areas suffer from substantial loss of materials, especially during the strong autumn and spring rains. Plants cannot get established here. Only trees, if they were to grow, could stop the process. Their large root system would hold back the soil while their branches would protect it from the worst of the rains. The sandstone is topped by dolomite rock, limestone and marl containing marine fossils: mussels, pectens (saltwater clams), etc.

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On the other side of the road, the sandstone bank shows criss-crossing layers which were deposited by flood waters with very strong currents. The pebbles they contain have angles that are barely blunted, indicating that they were not carried far. This very crumbly sandstone is generally held together by a greenish clay rich in white mica without any limestone. It bears witness to the arrival of the sea, 200 million years ago. On this rock face, plants have to compensate for intense erosion by being able to develop rapidly and withstand a certain amount of dryness. There are a very few chamomile plants and streamlined plantains.

Ash trees, like the ones that border the path, like cool and damp environments. They were planted alongside paths by locals because ash branches, cut towards the end of summer, provided additional fodder for livestock.

140 million years ago, the sea was shrinking, and the Can de l’Hospitalet and Causse Méjean were not yet separated by the Tarnon valley. The landscape was completely different then. In a hot and humid climate, limestone “turrets” overlooked rivers whose routes were different from today's. Successive uplifts, shifts on either side of geological faults and the slow work of erosion have created the relief you see today. You have panoramic views over the valley of the Baumale, a tributary of the Tarnon, and, opposite you, the Causse Méjean. It is difficult to make out the limit between the limestone zone and the schist zone in this heavily wooded landscape.

Dry grassland is home to a multitude of insects, including bush crickets. At night, they produce a squealing sound by rubbing the stubs of their wings together. The sound has given them the name of “gouzi”. But despite their musical wings, they cannot fly, and hide in vegetation (such as boxwood or juniper bushes) to escape predators.

A beautiful view onto Mont Aigoual (1,567 m) –  a mountain of winds, fog, snow and rain. Banks of clouds coming from the Mediterranean rub against its slopes and can cause violent precipitation (also called Cévenol episodes). This temperamental mountain is home to the last mountain weather-station in France.

The draille follows the ridge and crosses the Can de l'Hospitalet plateau. This transhumant trail enables the sheep flocks of the plains (of the southern Cévennes and the Crau) to move up to northern Gévaudan (Aubrac, Margeride, Mont Lozère). This draille is only one branch of a larger network along which transhumant livestock still travel. 

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This panel shows the legacy of Charles Flahault's experimental work.

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This remarkable beech is over 200 years old and called chourradou in Occitan, after the sheep that would chourrer (ruminate) and rest under its shady canopy. This kind of tree (large cavity, detached bark and dead wood) is home above all to saproxylic or dead-wood-eating insects and fungi. On another of these old beeches, below the path, you can see a large lichen called lobaria pulmonaria, which needs a lot of water and is highly sensible to atmospheric pollution. It grows very slowly and thus testifies to the ripe old age of this part of the forest.

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“And who knows whether some generous benefactor will not decide one day that our students should have a hospitable roof at L'Hort de Dieu itself? I can see the little house as if it were already built, receiving much sunlight on the Mediterranean side, with its study room on the ground floor and its large fireplace around which scientific problems are discussed late into the night..” (Charles Flahault, 1904)
The Chalet, which was built the following year, made it possible to establish a botanical garden, a high-altitude vegetable plot and a plant nursery nearby. Despite the forest reconquering the surroundings, some of the plants introduced at the time have survived until today: Pyrenean lily, great masterwort, and others.

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Fabre and Flahault pursued two objectives: studying the way certain forest species adapt to the Cevenol climate and studying plants in their relationship with environmental conditions. Some plant species are better adapted than others to the Cevenol climate. Thus, Mediterranean and Douglas firs do very well, as do almost all the species native to Europe, Asia Minor and the western United States. Species from East Asia and the eastern United States, however, whither away. Through his work, Flahault laid the foundations of phytosociology, the study of how plants arrange themselves into communities as a function of the environmental conditions.