The hamlets, the Col de Mouzoules pass and the river Bavezon

8 points of interest

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  Aumessas village

  Aumessas was called Ulmensacium in 1248, from Latin ulmus meaning elm.
  In 1769 1,300 inhabitants lived here (240 at the most recent census), the majority of them on the lower lands, below 600m. Their income was derived partly from chestnut growing but mostly from silk farming. On the eve of the French Revolution, 54 silk manufacturers made Aumessas their home. The other inhabitants were shepherds. They lived up in the mountains. The land belonged to the landed gentry, the middle classes or merchants.

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  St-Peyre rock

  To evoke the site of St Peyre, here is a text by C. Chante, taken from his work Un coin des Cévennes. Le Vigan et ses environs (1933). “All of a sudden, an oak grove appears that surrounds a small clearing where some leftover rocks, laid out in an elongated oval, seem to indicate a cromlech. At one end stands the antique structure, which the centuries have respected and which the Christians never thought to come and destroy on this almost inaccessible escarpment. There can be no doubt about its purpose: it is clearly a Druidic altar, made from granite blocks set out in a semicircle with a gradient, whence the priest must have harangued the faithful before or after the sacrifice (…).”

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  Le Caladon hamlet

  The path passes pleasantly through treeless areas that let you admire Le Caladon, a village perched on a rocky spur. Caladon was called Calador in 1167, the final “n” being a recent addition that makes the name mean “flagstone for paving” in Occitan. The village stands on a dark and unusual rock: very hard schist (slate) with quartz inclusions, called quartzite. In the 11th century, the hamlet was overlooked by a castle belonging to the House of Roquefeuil. The Roquefeuil family had much power in the region and owned many castles. It is said that a tunnel linked the castle with the Col de Mouzoules pass...

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  Fauna

  Eurasian blackcap

  Oak forest predominates on this slope but as you get closer to the pass, the trees become rarer. With a bit of luck, you may see a Eurasian blackcap. Its feathers are inconspicuous but the male can easily be identified by its shiny black cap, which stops abruptly just above the eyes. The blackcap particularly likes shrubs and dense thickets, where it builds its nest out of grasses. It sings vigorously in spring, but stops in mid-July.

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  Memorial stone for the Camisards and the Gathering in the Wilderness

  The stone commemorates the arrest of a gathering of Camisards on 17 April 1742. After Luther’s Reformation in 1521, the Cévenols had converted en masse. By 1560, there were already numerous Protestant communities in the region. The 1598 Edict of Nantes accorded Protestants the freedom of conscience and the freedom to worship. And yet, from 1660 onwards, harassment began with the prohibition of certain positions for Huguenots. The King’s soldiers (the Dragoons) were billeted in locals’ houses and given the right to do anything short of killing them. Brutality, bullying, pillaging of food, destruction of possessions and forced baptisms incited locals to convert to Catholicism. This regime of terror was so effective that just the threat of such a dragonnade sufficed to convert entire villages. (...) A gathering in the Wilderness [secret Protestant service in an isolated outdoors location] was held at Mouzoules. It was denounced by a traitor who, after the tragedy, was forced by the Huguenots to dig his own tomb at the bottom of the Mouzoules meadow. Eleven people were arrested. The men were sent to the galleys, the women locked up in the Tour de Constance tower in Aigues-Mortes. Not one of the women recanted; most died there.

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  The mule tracks (Col de Mouzoules pass)

  Before roads were built, this track saw much traffic between Le Vigan and the Causses (limestone plateaux). Mule tracks were used by merchants going to fairs. They took wheat and products from livestock farms down into the valleys. When they returned, they brought chestnuts onto the plateau.

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  Fruit growing

  In the early 20th century, as silk farming declined, the mulberry trees were no longer needed, and were replaced by plum trees around Aumessas. The golden age of fruit growing was from 1930 to 1965. On the train, the fruit was rapidly transported into town. M.M. remembers that “We grew lots of plums around Aumessas. In ‘30, we ripped up the mulberries and planted plum trees on the crop terraces. The men took care of the growing and harvesting, the women packed the fruit, that’s delicate work because plums are fragile. They have to be handled with care so you don’t damage the fine white wax that covers them. The women put them in rows in small baskets that nested within one another. The market eventually collapsed because bigger, more competitive farms and the entry of the country into the European Community meant that small family farms could no longer survive.”

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  The Catholic church and its bell-gable

  The church is remarkable for its bell-gable and has been a listed building since 15 February 1995. The bell bears the date of its casting: 1539. Like other bells, it used to ring the hour and summon the faithful to worship. But in the days of steam trains, it also warned locals of any fires started by escarbilles (small bits of coal). At the time, there were no firemen; the inhabitants were responsible for fighting fires. (bell visible in church).