The Siagnole fountain depiction: The boy strangling a goose

The Siagnole is a tributary of the Siagne in the French department of Var. It is sometimes also called the “Siagne de Mons” or “Roman Siagne”. The mountain village of Mons (811 m above sea level) can be reached in around 40 minutes by car, 30 kilometres away via the D 563 via St. Paul and Fayence. The Siagnole is the namesake of this fountain.

The fountain of the boy strangling a goose is located in front of the house “Grand Rue” 545 on the square in front of the Mairie. It can already be seen there in an old photograph from 1905. According to notes (deceased Mrs Simonne van Acker), the figure was stolen in 1990 and then replaced with a copy.

The chubby-cheeked boy has grabbed the goose by the neck with both arms and, in the heat of the moment, is also pinching the inner fluttering wing so that the large bird appears to be trapped. But the goose fights back; both of them brace themselves powerfully against each other with their legs spread apart. Like a practised wrestler, the plump boy leans his upper body back, while the goose counteracts with its broadly straddled feet and supports itself on the ground with its feathered tail. The child pulls the goose’s neck close to him, screeching and struggling for air as the animal endeavours to escape its restraints.

It is a copy made of marble. The original was made of bronze and did not have the unsightly hexagonal support that had to support the weight of the animal’s body.

In his Naturalis historia, Pliny the Elder names Boethus of Calchedon as the sculptor of this work, which was famous in antiquity. Emperor Nero had the original brought to Rome from the Greek East and installed in his palace. The Greek original was created around 230-220 BC. A copy was made in Rome around the 1st century AD. Due to an opening in the goose’s beak, this Roman replica could have been placed in a fountain. This fountain was found together with two other replicas in the Roman Villa Quitiliana, Via Appia, in Rome.

A Roman marble copy of the Greek bronze original can be found in the Glyptothek in Munich/Germany. The sculpture is known there as the “Ganswürger”.

The chubby-cheeked boy has grabbed the goose by the neck with both arms and, in the heat of the moment, is also pinching the inner fluttering wing so that the large bird appears to be trapped. But the goose fights back; they both brace themselves powerfully against each other with their legs apart. Like a practised wrestler, the plump boy leans his upper body back, while the goose counteracts with its broadly straddled feet and supports itself on the ground with its feathered tail. The child pulls the goose’s neck close to him, screeching and struggling for air as the animal endeavours to escape its restraints.

further copies of the fountain and their locations:

There is also an identical fountain with this figure in Geneva (remark by Didier Baillet 11.04.2024). The exact location or street still needs to be researched.

This fountain, erected in 1865, can also be found in Basel / Switzerland on Elisabethen-Anlage / Centralbahnplatz.

 

The present town hall / mayor’s office

The town hall was built in 1907 on the foundations of St. Sebastian’s church. This church was first mentioned in 1480.

The demolition of this church and the construction of the new town hall are historically closely linked to the political decision to separate church and state. On 9 December 1905, its ‘Law of Separation of Religion and State’ came into force. The French Prime Minister of the time, Émile Combes, who attended a seminary and obtained a doctorate in theology, was behind the Combes Law, which bears his name. The property (probably with the rest of the church building complex) passed to the state around 1906.

The current address is 1 place de l’hôtel de ville.

The current mayor is Mr René Bouchard (from 05/2023).

Source of literature: various brochures from the Tourist Office

The covered washing area (le lavoir) /Bassin neuf

In the French-speaking world, the term lavoir is used to describe public, usually roofed washing places. In German-speaking countries, the term Waschhaus is usually used.

According to current knowledge, the history of covered wash houses dates back to the 18th century. In the Middle Ages and early modern times, women washed their laundry on stones by streams or rivers. In the course of the industrial revolution and the pollution it caused, covered buildings were built in larger numbers for the first time towards the end of the 18th century. This was also intended to reduce the risk of epidemics. It was recognised that dirty linen could lead to the spread of diseases such as cholera, measles or smallpox, which had devastating effects.

By law of 3 February 1851, the state decided to pay up to 30% of the construction costs of communal washing places. This was the trigger for a construction phase that affected all villages in France. The construction of the wash houses was usually financed from the respective community coffers, because the often – in the opinion of church and official authorities – too open-hearted and permissive behaviour of the washerwomen was to be stopped or at least hidden behind walls and low-pitched roofs. The wash houses were usually located by a stream or river and, like tanneries, were usually at the end of the village. Some lavoirs were also located in the immediate vicinity of a spring. Only in rare cases were lavoirs supplied with water by means of wells. Due to the mountainous location of Bagnols-en-Forêt, there was no possibility of washing at a stream. Therefore, the washing places are all located at springs on the outskirts of the village.

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There are a total of four old washing places “lavoirs” in Bagnols. One can be found at the road junction from the D4 to La Motte (D47 route du Muy). Another is located about 200 metres from this one on the D47 route du Muy, direction La Motte, on the left side towards the valley (115, route du Muy). If you are driving into the village on the D4 from Frejus, there is another car wash just inside the bend of the “grande rue” on the right. A fourth washing place can be found right next to the Saint Antoine chapel (see number 19). The road “piste de la culasse” begins there.

Common to all lavoirs are two or more washbasins with washing stones inclined into the basin, on which the laundry was worked with wooden beaters or by hand. Brushes were hardly used at that time. Differences existed mainly in the height of the washstones. Thus, in many lavoirs, the washerwomen had to wash the clothes while kneeling, while better-equipped washhouses allowed them to work standing up. The outer walls of the wash houses could be made of stone or timber-framed. Often the buildings were also half-open. Wooden constructions were usually used to roof the wash houses; brick arches were the exception. From the 19th century onwards, there were also cast-iron supporting structures – similar to the French market halls (halles). The floor of the washing place was paved so that the washerwomen stood on a level and dry floor. The sides were sometimes equipped with benches. In Bagnols, the washing places have a roof to protect the washerwomen from bad weather and strong sunlight. But apart from the requirements of hygiene and health, the washing place had the advantage of combining two essential functions: one practical and one social. Since men were not allowed in the washhouses, in addition to their actual function, the washhouses offered women an undisturbed place for their communication, which could also consist of informal gossip – hence the derogatory comparison “gossipy like a washerwoman”. Any presence of an adult male was forbidden, and in case of transgression, the male was sometimes attacked and relentlessly thrown into the water amid the mockery and ridicule of the entire group. This shows how important it was that this tiresome washing work was made more bearable by creating an atmosphere that was as pleasant and playful as possible. The social role of the washing place was essential. There the girlfriends, who each had their own place, were under the supervision of the elders. They laughed and they talked. Women who could not leave their young children in care brought them to the washing place.

We have to imagine that it was once a lively and noisy, almost festive meeting place where the local women regularly met each other.

Literature source: www.wikipedia.de

The former town hall

The building cannot be visited from the inside.

As the street name suggests, house no. 75 was the site of the old town hall, which was in use until the new town hall was completed. It was in use until the new town hall was completed in 1907. The upper floor housed the school for boys, which was not yet finished at the time the town hall was built on the Grande Rue. When classes were mixed in Bagnols, it was moved to the building that now houses the “Police Municipal” (until 2022 the tourist office) (Grande Rue no. 575). After the town hall was moved to Grande Rue / Place de la Mairie in 1907, the communal showers were set up in this former town hall. They were used there until 1960. The communal showers were a facility for public use at a time when there were no bathrooms in the houses. There was only one room with four showers and the water was heated with coal. People paid an entrance fee and there were no restrictions on the duration or quantity of water. Sometimes there was a queue of about ten people.

Source:  Notes on a village tour; by Simonne Van Acker (deceased)

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The oldest part of the village

… in the southern part of the village, starting at Rue de la Calade

The oldest buildings in the village can be found in this street and in all the streets south of the Grande Rue. Below this street was a public wash house, which was demolished.

Rue de la Calade used to be the main access to the village. The arcades seem to hold the Rue du Portail. These are the first buildings from 1477 of this newly founded village. Based on the existing building structures, it is clear that the oldest buildings in the village stood here in the centre of the village. Parts of buildings dating from the 15th and 16th centuries can still be seen on the Rue du Lavoir (street of the washing area). The former village church of Saint-Sebastian (see no. 2) was also within easy walking distance from here. It was located on the site of today’s Mairie on the Grande Rue.

Additional scientific evidence could be provided by determining the age of the wooden beams used in these buildings (so-called dendrochronological studies).

Literature source: various brochures from the tourist office; notes on the village tour by Paul van Acker and his late wife Simonne

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The oldest street in the village

Rue du Portail is still recognizable today as one of several old village streets due to its steps and paving. This access to the village led through a former “town gate”, which no longer exists today. If you look up from the “Au Relais Provencal” hotel towards the village, you can see arcaded walls supporting the upper village.

There is also a small steep turn-off on the Grande Rue. This street is called “Rue de la Calade” and was the main access to the village in the Middle Ages when coming from Fréjus and going up to the village.

All the entrances and roads south of the “Grande Rue” belong to the first part of the village, which was built in 1477. It is the area of the “Rue de l’ancienne mairie”, the “Rue du Portail” and the “Rue du Lavoir”.

Literature sources:

various brochures from the tourist office (formerly in Bagnols, Grand Rue no. 575)

Notes on the village tour by Paul Van Acker and his late wife Simonne​

The vaulted entrance to the church

Rue Abbé Bruno leads directly to the church of Saint-Antonin (see no. 8). The staircase and the arched passageway are named after the priest Abbé Bruno, a prominent figure in the village. He came from Italy with his mother in 1923 and exercised his ministry as a pastor exclusively in Bagnols.

Documentary sources: various brochures from the tourist office

The present church

​The parish church of Saint-Antonin (current church in Bagnols) was built between 1704 and 1707 on the site of an old chapel dedicated to Saint Antonin, at the head of the village. Next to the church, the old cemetery can be found on a high plot of land. Probably the place for this new building was chosen because of the graves in the surrounding area (today’s place of the chestnut trees). To this day, this cannot be said with certainty. However, the memory of this chapel has been perpetuated in the memory of the inhabitants of Bagnols and is explicitly mentioned in the archives of the parish.

The new large cemetery is located on the Chemin des Meules, which starts at the Notre-Dame chapel, in the valley of Bagnols.

Previously, the 11th century Chapel of St Denis (St Domnin) was used as the parish church until the Chapel of Saint Sébastien was built in the new village in 1480. This chapel stood on the site of the present town hall. At this point, this Saint Sebastien chapel probably no longer had a function, although it remained in place until 1905.
See number -2-, current town hall. The town hall was built in 1905 and the chapel was demolished.

In archival documents of Abbot Hugues, it says: “The present church was built in 1704. Since most of the vault fell down, it was not finished until 1707.” This statement is confirmed by the building itself. On the inside of the gable, the wall bears the remains of the beginning of a vault that must have been about 2 m higher than the present one.
Moreover, the foundation walls of the east and west walls were designed to accommodate this vault, which probably collapsed during construction. The present vault is based on a repetition of the masonry. The dimensions of the church and its light amaze everyone who enters it. The church of Saint-Antonin, 30 m long and 10 m wide, consists of a single nave divided into three bays by pilasters supporting double arches. The 19th century neo-Romanesque portal was added later, while the predominant architectural style of the building is Romanesque and Renaissance.
The amphitheatre tribune was built in 1829 and enlarged and reinforced in 1865 to comfortably seat the faithful, who were practising in large numbers during this period of Catholic renewal in France.

The windows are high and wide so that the sunlight can penetrate generously. The large altarpieces of the first two altars are in the style of Louis XII. In the same year, 1865, the choir was completed in black and white marble. As a result of water ingress, the floor covering of the choir, the masonry and the marble of the altar broke apart. In 1997, the congregation began the restoration of the entire ensemble. The chancel is distinguished by a group of five paintings, badly damaged by damp, which represent a kind of pictorial catechesis on the Last Supper, the Passion and the Resurrection. One of these paintings depicts Saint Domnin, the first bishop of Digne in the 4th century and patron saint of Bagnols, who “prays much for his people” (mentioned in the painting).

Finally, the jewel of the parish is the statue “La Pieta” in polychrome wood, dating from 1659, which can only be visited on very high holidays.

A new vocation added to the places of worship is cultural events.
The Notre Dame chapel is used for concerts, for example a piano concert by Osvaldo Salas on 11 August 2002, and the church is used by the CAC, an association in Bagnols, for the annual Francis Poulenc concert and for concerts as part of the Festival of String Quartets in the Pays de Fayence.

An association has been set up to protect and preserve the chapels in Bagnols en Forêt. In a world where rapid development leads to constant and profound changes in the environment, this is a good step to ensure the protection of what can still be protected.

Sources:
“Bagnols en Forêt – Var” Contribution à l’ Etude de la Provence Orientale, Tome I, Guy Désirat.
and documents Paul van Acker Bagnols-en-Forêt

The old fountain in the Grande Rue from 1901

 

THE TEXT AND PHOTOS WILL BE UPDATED GRADUALLY ………..

Documentary sources: various brochures from the tourist office

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Francis POULENC, composer

born on 07.01.1899 died on 30.01.1963

Poulenc lived on the upper floor of the house at Grand Rue no.532.

The building cannot be visited from the inside.

Poulenc was born in Paris. His mother taught him to play the piano and music was an integral part of family life. At the age of 15, he became a piano pupil of Ricardo Viñes; “je lui dois tout” (“I owe everything to him”), he said in an interview in 1953. In 1918, while still serving in the army, he composed three miniatures. From 1921, he received musical training from Charles Koechlin.

Influenced by Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Chevalier as well as French vaudeville, after the First World War Poulenc joined a group of young composers around Erik Satie and the writer Jean Cocteau, known as “Les Six”, whose members rejected Impressionism in favour of greater simplicity and clarity.

Some of the Six’s style found its way into Poulenc’s own musical work. He adopted Dadaist techniques and was influenced by popular melodies. A charming vulgarity seemed more important to him than the supposedly deep feeling of Romanticism. He was an outstanding pianist, and piano music dominates Poulenc’s early works. His friendship with several Montparnasse poets, including Guillaume Apollinaire and Paul Éluard, led to the composition of numerous songs based on their texts. He also wrote many songs for the baritone Pierre Bernac (1899-1979), whom he met in 1926 and accompanied as a pianist for 25 years (1934-1959).

In 1936, after the accidental death of his friend, the composer and critic Pierre Octave Ferroud, and his visit to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, he turned to the Catholic faith. This was reflected in his compositions in a series of sacred works, which are often regarded as his most important works, even though he himself saw his main focus as composing operas.

In the summer of 1943, Poulenc composed the cantata for double choir a cappella Figure humaine (“Human Face”). He also set poems by his favourite poet Paul Éluard to music. During the German occupation of France, Poulenc repeatedly received anonymous texts from the French resistance, including some that he identified as poems by Éluard. These poems contained more or less hidden calls for resistance. In the famous poem Ode à la liberté, which forms the conclusion of the composition, this is done very openly. Poulenc had to set these texts to music in secret. He had them printed secretly by the publisher Paul Rouart so that they could be performed immediately on the day of the longed-for liberation. Poulenc saw his work as an act of faith and confidence. For him, this was also the reason for limiting himself to the human voice and dispensing with instruments. The composition was smuggled to England before the end of the war, where it was premiered in an English translation in January 1945. The French première did not take place until 1947.

For his first opera, premiered at the Comic Opera in Paris in 1947, Poulenc again used texts by Apollinaire as inspiration and worked on the basis of his Les mamelles de Tirésias.

The opera Dialogues des Carmélites from 1957, commissioned by Ricordi for La Scala in Milan, is probably Poulenc’s best-known work. The plot is based on the fate of the 16 Carmelite nuns of Compiègne, who were executed by guillotine during the French Revolution, and on the novel The Last on the Scaffold by Gertrud von le Fort. Poulenc’s last opera was a tragedy in one act called La voix humaine (The Human Voice) and was premiered at the Comic Opera in Paris on 6 February 1959.

In addition to these operas, Poulenc wrote a concerto for organ, harpsichord, piano and two pianos, as well as masses and numerous chamber music works. In doing so, he repeatedly drew on his role models Mozart and Saint-Saëns. His works have been collected in the Francis Poulenc Catalogue of Works (FP) since 1995. He has been an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1958.

The relationship between Poulenc and Bernac went far beyond their concertising together. Some authors today regard Poulenc as one of the first composers to publicly admit his homosexual inclinations. It is known that he had his first steady relationship with the painter and designer Richard Chanlaire (1896-1973): “You have changed my life, you are the sunshine of my thirty years, a reason for living and working.”

Elsewhere, he confessed: “You know that I am as sincere in my faith, without any messianic screamings, as I am in my Parisian sexuality.”

He dedicated his Concerto champêtre to him in 1928. Although Poulenc also had several relationships with women, he never publicly admitted paternity for his daughter Marie-Ange. Even his confession that he did not find his very good friend Raymonde Linossier desirable, although he intended to marry her (her death in 1930 prevented this), casts more doubt on his true interest in women.

Francis Poulenc died of heart failure in Paris on 30 January 1963. His grave is in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

The Sonata for oboe and piano, also premiered at the Strasbourg Festival, was written in Bagnols-en-Forêt, in the Var department, in 1962 and dedicated to Sergei Prokofiev. It was premiered posthumously in June 1963, a few months after the composer’s death.

Sonata for oboe and piano, FP 185 (1962)

I. Élégie. Paisiblement 05:13 min

II. Scherzo. Très animé 04:16 min

III. déploration. Très calme 04:34 min

The car park next to the current church was only named “Square Francis Poulenc” in 2005. A new fountain was also installed there. Next to the church entrance is a large metal treble clef in memory of this artist.

Literature source: various brochures from the tourist office; Wikipedia

 

Henri THÉATRE, painter

born on 10.02.1913 in Hamoir, Belgium

died on 16.02.1985 in Bagnols-en-Forêt

Married to Joanna Loris-Théâtre (also deceased); childless.

 He lived in the house Grande Rue 338, which can be seen in the photos here. The building cannot be visited from the inside!

 Excerpt from the newspaper VAR-Matin 25.04.2004

 ” Henri Théâtre Emotion and Great Art

40 pictures by the painter Henri Théâtre, selected by the painter’s widow, Joanna, are being exhibited at the suggestion the mayor’s suggestion with the help of the twinning association on the walls of the of the town hall. The opening of this exhibition was moving, because this artist lived in the village for over 20 years, where he died and was buried in 1985. The old people who came together were able to recognize the artist’s who knew the artist’s characteristic painting style. The streets, the chapels, the sheep and the younger ones, who got to know them through the pictures today. have come to know. Jean-René Etienne praised the Belgian-born artist artist, a reproduction of which he had printed on his invitation to the New Year’s reception 2003. He will soon be submitting a proposal to the local council to send stamped envelopes with an imprint of the artist’s picture to the artist of the St. Denis Chapel. “Henri Théâtre was a painter who painted in oil, charcoal and watercolor in a style that was between figurative and abstract representation. He was able to rich contrasts and nuances. His paintings have been shown in numerous exhibitions and his works are prized by French and foreign appreciated by French and foreign collectors.

His wife keeps his memory alive of him by allowing us to experience her husband’s work. On this day I share her feelings. On view today from 10 am to 7 pm in the community hall. It is great art.”

 

Here you can see a painting that can be found in the church of Bagnols on the side of the gallery. Henri Théatre made many colorful paintings in the village of Bagnols, but also in the landscape around the village.

 His burial place is located in the New Cemetery, near the Notre-Dame chapel. The grave is located in the second row of this cemetery. It is the first grave on the left side. The photos can also be seen here.

 Literature sources:

 various brochures Tourist office (formerly in Bagnols, Grand Rue no. 575)

 Notes on the village tour Paul Van Acker and his deceased wife Simonne

The old hotel, “Hôtel MIRESTEREL”, rue de l’Ancienne Mairie

THE TEXT AND PHOTOS WILL BE UPDATED GRADUALLY ………..

Documentary sources: various brochures from the tourist office

The manufacture of glassware in Bagnols

The old building can be found by turning left on the “Chemin de Bargemon”. Then take the narrow path “Impasse de la verrerie” and after about 250 metres you will find the private building on the left-hand side.

Important: The building cannot be visited from the inside!

 Why make glass here in Bagnols?

The abundance of pine forests in the Var department attracted the attention of master glassmakers.

The necessary fuel was found to heat the furnaces. Limestone was also needed to make glass. This could also be found here. There was also clay soil within easy reach that could be used for moulds and furnaces.

As early as 1729, glassmakers from St. Paul-en-Forêt and Callian founded a glassworks in Bagnols in the Ruel area, today known as “La Verrerie” (at the foot of Castel Diaou). This glassworks was in operation until 1870.

The glassworks in Bagnols and the glassworks in St. Paul-en-Forêt were in competition with the glassworks in Marseille, Arles and Gémenos (Bouche du Rhône), which used coal as fuel for their furnaces at the time.

Raw materials

a) Composition of the glass used in Bagnols:

sieved yellow sand: 100 parts (Reyran or Martigues)

Raw soda: 200 parts bought in the form of stones

Potash: 50 shares, bought from housewives

Broken waste glass: exchange of 100 pieces for finished products

yellow clay or marl clay: 30 parts were found in the soil and subsoil.

These materials are brought together at a temperature of approx. 1,300 °C. The daily production of a master glassmaker was around 600 bottles,

b) Wood

In view of the enormous consumption of wood (for example, the St Paul glassworks consumed 6,000 kilograms of wood per 24 hours), the Chamber of Water and Forestry restricted the use of the forest by creating felling licences The Provence glassworks had to reduce its operating time to four months per year instead of six.

The organisation of work within the forest glassworks

The glassworks formed a real community in that it focussed on all the trades associated with it.

There was a hierarchy of labour in the hall. Around the furnaces, there was a division of labour and a hierarchy of fixed processes with the master glassmaker, the glassmakers and the apprentices.

The master glassmaker

The most common situation in the 12th century was that of the master glassmaker, who did not own the walls, land or forests, which he rented and exploited because they belonged to religious communities or landlords.

The labourer glassmaker

He was generally employed for a year and his variable salary depended on the number of days worked or the quantity and quality of the glass produced. In Saint-Paul and Bagnols, glass workers were paid by the day from 1812.

The child or apprentice

The glassware child is a synonym for an apprentice. Training began at the age of 12 and lasted around 3 years. The child who did not successfully complete his apprenticeship remained a second-class labourer called a “big boy”.

The additional glassware trades.

Multipurpose men prepare the raw materials necessary for the production of glass. People load or unload the recycling furnaces. The basket makers are responsible for nailing the items and there are also packers, transporters and merchants who work for glass production.

Working alongside the glassmakers were weavers, woodcutters who cut the wood to the required length, day labourers who extracted sand and marl. Moulders who sprayed refractory earth in a special mill. Potters and their assistants who moulded crucibles or pots in which the glass was melted. Another work process was loading and unloading the annealing furnaces. Others were responsible for packing the finished products, including the basket makers. There were also hauliers or carters who transported the products to Fréjus, Draguignan or Grasse on mules or horses.

Operation and production of the Bagnols glassworks

A census of Bagnols from 1706 lists the occupations of 274 groups. No glassmaker is mentioned!

In the years 1723 to 1730, the BUISSON de VIRGILY, D’ESCRIVAIN, COLLOMP, DESPIERRE, DU QURELARD, BORNIOL and D’AUDOUARD families were named in the parish registers of Bagnols. There are also glassware makers.

This glassware was produced between 1706 and 1729. They were glassmakers who came from Saint Paul and Callian. The glassworks in Bagnols, la Verrerie, closed its doors in 1870, like all the forest glassworks. Due to the heat in summer and above all the restrictions on felling to protect the forests, it only produced for 4 to 6 months a year.

Production in 1730, for example, was sold locally in the glassworks or in the village at neighbouring markets. These prices were not increased by transport costs because they were local goods.

40,000 drinking glasses

200 bulbous glass containers (for wine), called “dame-jeanne”

500 bottles

400 cups

4,500 bottles, which are hardly consumed in the canton, are delivered to Nice for Muscat and liqueurs.

6,000 small bottles for perfumers in Grasse.

Another example is the production of glassware by the DE BUISSON family in 1740:

45,000 bottles

200 bulbous glass containers (for wine), called “dame-jeanne”

500 small bottles

6,000 glass jugs for olive oil or liqueurs

400 cups

40,000 drinking glasses.

In 06410 BIOT there is a glass museum where you can see the glass production process.

La Verrerie de Biot, Chemin des Combes, 06410 BIOT – France; https://www.verreriebiot.com

(Sources:

Publication from 2004 in the former village museum on the 1st floor of the former tourist office in Bagnols.

Today -2024- the building houses the Police Municipal; as well as own research and additions to the text)

 

The windmill at Sainte Anne

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History of the mills in Bagnols-en-Forêt

The first mention of mills in Bagnols is found in the
in the deed of habitation of March 9, 1478, signed between Hec-
tor de Fiesque, brother and prosecutor of the bishop of Fréjus
Urbain, lord of Bagnols and Lodovico Amero, a native of Teso
of Teso, diocese of Albenga. This founding act of
of the commune of Bagnols-en-Forêt stipulates in its article
8, that the nobleman Lodovico Amero will be able to build at his
one or more mills and a hydraulic saw at his own expense and
and operate them for his own benefit for 15 years, after which they
after which they will revert to the lord bishop by right.
It should not be forgotten that under the Ancien Régime the cereals were the basis of the
It should not be forgotten that under the Ancien Régime, cereals were the basis of the population’s diet.
tions. The people of Bagnol therefore needed, above all, wheat
wheat mills.
There were, of course, water-powered wheat mills on the various
on the various waterways of the region. These
mills, mentioned as early as the XVII century, must have
mills, mentioned as early as the XVII century, must have been in operation long before that period, in the district of Les Moulins
or of the Molière, in Planastel and in Mériane.
A communal windmill and wheat mill had been built at the end of the
the end of the XVI century, in the district of the Moulin à vent or
Coullet-Rollan. In 1628, this mill needed to be
In 1628, this mill needed to be “mended”, i.e. repaired and in 1700, the iron
in charge of running it <“not being able to maintain it anymore” wanted
wanted to give it back to the commune. Another windmill
windmill, whose tower still exists, was built at the end of the

the end of the XVII century in the Ste-Anne district. On this site there was an area for treading wheat. This area belonged to
the hospital St-Jacques of Bagnols. In 1790, the community bought this area, which was considered too small, in order to enlarge it.
and built the windmill of Ste-Anne whose tower still dominates the village of Bagnols. The windmills replaced the water mills
water mills when these could no longer function, particularly during the dry season in the low water period.
In 1921 the municipal council, wanting to restore the windmill of Coullet-Rollan, explained: “that it is of the greatest use for the
that it is of the greatest utility for the dwelling that it is built on the ground of this commune a mill to grind the bleds especially during the summer
especially during the summer with all the more reason that the existing mills can only work with the winter rains which
exposes the inhabitants to very expensive displacements”.
But in Bagnols, the oil mills were by far the most represented in the commune. The culture of the olive tree must have held
especially from the 17th century onwards. Thus, all the water and wheat mills previously mentioned
in the districts of Les Moulins or La Molière, Planastel and La Mériane were all twinned with oil mills.
There were also blood oil mills in the village, i.e. with animal traction. At the beginning of the XIX
century, 7 oil mills, including two blood mills, pressed olives in Bagnols. Moreover, at the end of the XVIIIth century, the great
the mayors who succeeded one another, was, at the request of the people of Bagnols, to have a police regulation approved for the oil mills
for the oil mills in order to fight against the abuses of the mill owners: “for a long time the inhabitants have been suffering from the lack of
The inhabitants have long been complaining about the lack of crushing of their olives, which are usually crushed only halfway, which causes them to lose part of their olives, especially since the
which makes them lose a part of their olives especially considering that the marc remains entirely to the owners of the mills which make them iron and draw from it a considerable quantity of oil”.
a considerable quantity of oil “. These owners were also accused of not keeping their mills clean, of employing an insufficient number of
These owners were also accused of not keeping their mills clean, of employing an insufficient number of millers and of using poor quality scourers. Thirty years of discussion were necessary to
of discussions were necessary to arrive at a police regulation for oil mills, the aim of which was to preserve the exceptional quality of the olive oil.
quality of Bagnols’ olive oil, because, already in the 18th century, the Bagnols town councillors were aware of the
quality of the olives grown on their land.

Bernard ROMAGNAN

 

Literature source: various brochures Tourist Office

The Oppidum

The cliff tops (Oppidum de la Fortesse) have been inhabited since the end of the Bronze Age (1000 BC).

From the oppidum de la Fortesse, inhabited since the Bronze Age (1800 BC), you have a unique view of the hinterland and the other oppidum; the millstone quarries exploited from Roman times until the middle of the 18th century, with an unobstructed view of the bay of Fréjus-St Raphaël, the plain of the Argens, the rock of Roquebrune and the Maures.

 

The remains of an oppidum (ancient fortified dwelling) can be reached by the G 13 “Petit Roc” forestry road, from the new cemetery. Before, you can reach the millstone quarry (see n. 20).

From the car park of the new cemetery (opposite the dump), take the forest track “G 13 Petit Roc” to the fork “Tailleries de meules col de la Pierre du Coucou”. There, go up to the right on the GR 51 (marked red and white). Continue on the GR 51 and turn right at the sign “Oppidum”. After visiting the same part of the path, return to the junction. Here turn right again onto the main GR 51 path and at a small cairn onto a narrow, sloping path back to the cemetery car park.

Documentary sources: various brochures from the tourist office

The Notre-Dame Chapel

Excavations in 1982 revealed that this chapel was built on the ruins of a Gallo-Roman villa built at the beginning of the century. Next to the chapel, ceramics bearing the inscription “Le Gladiateur” (The Gladiator) dating from 49 were discovered, which were exhibited with fragments of Gallo-Roman brick pottery in the excavation depot of the Tourist Office of Bagnols. The archives show that it was built in 1560 as a parish church occupied successively by several hermits. Since 1729, on 15 August, a service in honour of Our Lady is celebrated there, in thanksgiving for the various graces received during the year 1900. The mass of survival of the animated festivities is preceded by a procession.

Documentary sources: various brochures from the tourist office

The chapel of Saint-Denis (formerly Saint-Domnin).

The parish church is Saint-Domnin, in the plain the only religious building of the time and dating from the 8th century, Saint Sebastian, is completed (on the site of the current town hall), a large popular festival is organised to transfer the objects of worship.

The primitive church of St Domnin was then repainted with frescoes showing a procession leaving the plain to reach the new village.

It was long believed that the village represented on the right in this scene was Pieve di Téco, but there is still some doubt as to whether this village could be African, the country of origin of St Domnin. The frescoes date from the Italian period of the 15th century.

Saint Domnin (died 5 November 379) was the first bishop of Digne, from 364 to 379, as well as the archbishop of the city of Vienne in the department of Isère.

He was a native of Proconsular Africa and arrived in Rome with bishops from North Africa in 313, along with Saint Marcellin and Saint Vincent. There the Council met to judge the three Donatists. After receiving the commission from Pope Melchiades, they went to Nice after conferring with the bishops gathered at the Council of Arles in 314. They preached the Gospel to the inhabitants of the Italian side of the Alps, from the seaside to Vercelli, where they separated.

Together with St Vincent, he decided to preach in the Alps and converted most people to Christianity in Digne-les-Bains.

Source of literature: various brochures Tourist Office

The Sainte-Anne Chapel

Jean Vigneron (a Spaniard) built this chapel in 1654 out of gratitude to Louis XIV, who naturalised him French by letters patent. He dedicated it to Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, to whom he had great devotion. He also completed the altar, its ornaments and the objects necessary for worship. Originally, this chapel, located on the heights of the village, was six metres long and had a porch open on three sides (like the chapel of Notre-Dame / Our Lady of Mercy, located on Route Départementale 47 in the direction of Le Muy). To enlarge the chapel, the porch was walled up and the octagonal bell tower was added. The date of these structural changes is unknown. Excavations carried out in 1982 on the west side attest to the presence of a Gallo-Roman room. Ceramic fragments from the 2nd, 7th and 8th centuries were discovered during these excavations. Today, the Sainte Anne Chapel is used as an exhibition space for temporary art exhibitions in July and August. A mass dedicated to Saint Anne is held every year on 26 July.

Literature source: various brochures Tourist Office

The Chapel of St. Anthony

The present chapel, dedicated to the recluse St. Anthony, already existed in 1660 and was built on top of an older building. The chapel is located about 600 metres south-east of the town hall, directly on the street of the same name “chemin de St Antoine”.

According to the ancients, this place was called “les thermes”, there would have been seven springs, two of which remain. A spring stream runs through the surrounding area of the building. The chapel was extended in 1677.

The feast of St. John the Baptist is celebrated here on 24 June.

Fires are lit on the meadows of the farm of the same name, close to the chapel. In the past, mulberry or heather branches were burnt here, on which silkworms were raised.

The tradition of the fair continues to this day.

Source of literature: various brochures Tourist Office

The millstone quarry

There is a parking space at the new cemetery. Here begins a forest path G 13, which climbs steadily and always offers a beautiful view of the village. After about 20 minutes you reach a fork in the road. Here you follow the sign on the right “Tailleries de meules col de la Pierre du Coucou”. After a 10-minute walk, the path climbs steeply. Climb up there on the right! The millstones, made of rhyolite stone, had different diameters. They were used to grind flour or olive oil.

Documentary source: various brochures from the tourist office

To the left of the old town hall building (Rue de Ancienne Mairie no. 75), you can see one of the two large cork-making factories, the Bouchonnerie Gandolphe, which gave Bagnols a significant economic boost and employed many people (debarkers, …, cookers, cork-makers).

The Bouchonnerie Gandolphe was very important. It comprised the “Mirestérel” buildings in the rue de l’Ancienne Mairie, numbers 13 to 55, where the cork underwent boiling and the various other stages of processing. Another stage of cork processing took place at Gagnard’s premises at number 23 Boulevard du Rayol, where the corks were sorted and prepared for despatch.

The corks from Bagnols and its neighbourhood were not enough. Mr Gandolphe had additional ones brought in from Algeria. The Gandolphe cork factory was the last one still in operation in Bagnols. Gandolphe’s children and grandchildren did not succeed him, they sold their property and left Bagnols. Competition from corks from Portugal began to make itself felt.

Another large cork maker, the Auguste Cauvy cork maker, was located at 148 Rue Ste Anne. There were also several workshops in the village where machines for making corks were installed and where 4 to 5 women worked.

This was the case at 339 Grande Rue (Rosselin Bertrand’s house before 1935) and 86 Rue du Mitan, where there were 7 cork craftsmen, some of whom had one or two workers. These craftsmen owned land which they worked when they had free time.

 

 

Cork processing

In summer, from June to September, was the season of the cork pullers (peelers) of the cork oaks. The forest owners peeled the cork themselves. Teams were therefore organised and deployed in the municipality and the large farms (Rouet).

The cork oak was sorted (fine and coarse). The fine cork was used for bottle corks, the coarse cork for fishing net floats.

One and a half years passed between the peeling and the finished cork. The cork boards have to dry for a year. The first peeling age is reached when the cork oak is between 20 and 30 years old. The first peeling, known as “unmasking”, does not produce cork that can be used to make bottle corks. It is used to make insulating material. Between each peeling, which takes place between June and September, 9 years pass. The bark takes an average of 8 years to grow 3 cm, which is the minimum for cork stoppers. The quality improves from year to year, becoming more regular and homogeneous. And so it goes on until it is 120-150 years old.

From 100 kg of peeled cork, 25 kg of bottle corks are produced, from 1 kg of this cork quality, 100 to 110 bottle corks are produced. As an example of the price of cork and the quantities of a harvest sold in 1926:

25/09/1926 Antonin Magail sold 6,921 kg of fine cork.

1. Cauvy received 145 old francs per 100 kg and 1,057 kg of coarse cork for 60 old francs per 100 kg.

The cork oak is a tree that has been part of the European flora since the Tertiary period. If we start from the beginning of the Tertiary period, it means that this tree has been thriving here for around 60 million years. It has been growing in the western Mediterranean region since this time: southern France, Sicily, Sardinia, western Italy, Portugal, Tunisia and Morocco. In France, it grows wild in the eastern Pyrenees. Here and there it grows on the French-Spanish border, where it covers small hills with its dark foliage. The cork oak forest on the French side of the Pyrenees is the most important in the country, far ahead of that of the Var and the island of Corsica.

The processing of cork was first mentioned in the 5th century BC. In combination with plaster, pitch or coated with wax, it was used to seal amphorae. The Greeks and Egyptians used it as buoys for anchors, as floats for fishing nets and as shoe soles.

Pliny the Elder, the Roman historian, describes the use of cork as a covering material for house roofs. Even in ancient times, cork was used as an insulating material in the manufacture of beehives.

The bark of the cork oak is a plant tissue made up of dead honeycomb-shaped microcells, which consists of 90% air and gives the material an extremely low density. Cork is a very poor conductor of heat, sound and vibrations. It was not until 1681, with the spread of glass bottles, that the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon used cork to seal his bottles of sparkling wine. The abundance of cork oak in the south of France has led to the establishment of companies specialising in the production of cork stoppers.

A new era also began in Bagnols-en-Forêt, in which the cork oak became important.

Four companies producing cork oaks brought the town an economic boom and employment for many inhabitants. In 2001, it was possible to produce 3,000 tonnes of cork a year in France from 7,000 hectares of cork oak forest (compared to 170,000 tonnes in Portugal, from where most of it was imported).

 

Growing conditions

The tree loves mild winters, fears late frosts, needs hot summers and at least 600 mm of rainfall per year. It does not tolerate chalky soils, does not thrive at altitudes above 700 metres above sea level and cannot tolerate trees taller than itself in its vicinity. To compensate for this, it survives forest fires. If its bark is regularly peeled, it can live for 150 years; if it is never peeled, it can live for up to 300 years.

Properties and use – cork for many purposes

Elastic and imperishable, the cork is a good ally for wine. It helps to preserve the wine and improves the quality of fine wines during storage because the cork is easily permeable to air.

Due to its special properties (cork is impermeable to water, light, neutral and flame retardant), it is also an important building material; it offers excellent thermal and sound insulation (2 cm of cork insulates as well as 38 cm of concrete). Its fire resistance makes it suitable for shipbuilding, aerospace and nuclear technology. When ground into dust, it is an ideal polishing material for working crystal, marble and granite.

 

A tree that takes its time

The cork oak does not grow very tall, no more than about 13 metres. It grows very slowly. In 20 to 30 years, it reaches a circumference of 60 cm and a height of 12 metres.

 

The various stages of processing also take a long time

Cork is not a raw material like any other. Just as a good wine takes time, cork stoppers should not be made in a hurry. The various stages of cork production take more than a year.

 

Peeling the cork oak

A cork oak can be peeled for the first time when it is 30 years old and has a diameter of at least 40 cm, otherwise the tree could die. The first peeling is called “démasclage”. The cork layer that is peeled off the first time is too uneven to be used for the production of cork stoppers. It is processed into insulation material.

The cork layer renews itself slowly over nine years. After this period, when the cork layer has grown to a thickness of 3 cm – the minimum for cork production – it is peeled for the second time. From now on, the peeling, which is repeated every nine years, is called “encorage”. After 45 years, a cork oak has reached the age at which it can produce consistent, high-quality cork up to the age of 120 – 150 years.

During its lifetime, a single tree allows 20 peelings of good quality, whereby 20,000 corks can be produced. From 100 kg of raw cork, 25 kg of cork stoppers can be produced. From 1 kg of cork, 100 – 110 corks can be produced.

 

The peeling process

The cork oak is peeled when it is in sap, from May to September, to avoid any risk of death. When the weather is very warm, the bark is detached from the top layer. The red mother layer produces wood on the inside and cork on the outside.

The cork peelers first make a cut all round below the base of the branch with a bevelled, very sharp axe. Then they cut the cork layer lengthwise along a natural crack from bottom to top. At the bottom, they then make a second cut all round and loosen the cork layer by using the axe handle as a lever, without damaging the top layer. This is because this living part of the bark causes the cork layer to be renewed.

 

Transport and drying

The cork planks (“canons”) are transported away by the “cameleurs”. They tie small bales of cork and carry them on their backs to the track, from where they are driven to the storage area. There they are stacked in the open air so that the weather can remove the sap, tannin and minerals. This is a very important process for the quality of the cork.

 

Cooking

After this period, the cork slabs are sent to the cork maker (bouchonnier). Here the outer woody layer is removed. The cork sheets are then placed in boiling water for an hour to disinfect them, improve their elasticity and smooth them out. Due to its impermeability to water, the cork does not reabsorb the water that it has slowly lost over the course of a year during the short boiling period.

Before further processing, the cork sheets are stored again, protected from light for about a month in a slightly damp room so that they do not dry out before further processing. When the cork is processed, it has lost 75% of its original weight. This is followed by the operation called visage, in which the boards are cut to size. They are sorted according to quality and (density) thickness and cut into strips between 38 and 54 mm wide. This corresponds to the height of the future cork.

 

Rounding and cutting

These strips are sent through the “tubeuse”, a machine that cuts away the excess cork along the entire length of the strip and rounds the strip. The corks are then cut to the desired length.

 

Washing and drying

The finished corks are placed in various baths where they are cleaned and sanitised without changing their original properties. They are then dried in hot air. This is an important operation to remove the last trace of moisture, which could be the cause of the cork flavour that winegrowers are so afraid of.

 

Sorting

All corks that are leaking or damaged, have insect holes or yellow stains are sorted out. They could affect the flavour of the wine or cause the bottle to leak. The corks are then sorted into quality categories from 0 to 6. Category 0 refers to the best corks, which are used to seal the finest wines.

Very small defects in the corks are repaired with a mixture of cork powder and a binding agent.

After a final sorting, the corks are labelled with fire or ink. Each company has its own workshop where the customer’s company logo is imprinted on the corks. The corks are then dipped in a light paraffin bath to make it easier to uncork the bottle later.

Literature sources:

various brochures from the tourist office (formerly in Bagnols, Grand Rue no. 575)

Notes on the village tour by Paul Van Acker and his deceased wife Simonne

 

 

 

The grotto

The first human traces in the area of Bagnols-en-Foret date back to about 12,000 years before Christ. This is the “Grotte du Muréon”. It can be reached via a hiking trail near “Gorges du Blavet”.

Literature source: various brochures Tourist Office

Colle rousse , rock formation

THE TEXT AND THE PHOTOS WILL BE UPDATED GRADUALLY ………..

Literature source: various brochures Tourist Office

Bayonne, The mountain with the striking ridge

THE TEXT AND PHOTOS WILL BE UPDATED PROGRESSIVELY ………..

Documentary sources: various brochures from the tourist office

La cascade de Gourbachin, waterfall on the stream “la Vauloube”.

Access:

Leave Bagnols on the D4 in the direction of Fréjus. At the lavoir (see no. 3), take a sharp right onto the D47 towards La Motte / Le Muy. After 300 m, cross the narrow bridge over the Vauloube. Immediately after the bridge, there is a small car park on the right. Here begins a shady hiking trail alongside the Vauloube. You should wear sturdy shoes because the stream has to be crossed on stepping stones. After heavy rain, the stream is not to be crossed !

The hike takes about 60 minutes from the car park to the waterfall and back the same way.

Literature source: various brochures Tourist Office

Attention. Building is at risk of collapse. Private property.

The ruins of an oil mill that utilised the water of the Vauloube still exist today. The remains can be found right at the start of the “Chemin de la Salette” path near the bridge over the Vauloube on the D47 (location: see photos). The mill was in operation until 1938-1939.

It can be assumed that the current ownership situation is unclear and that a reconstruction of the entire functioning mill is currently not an economically viable solution for an owner.  Reconstruction and proper utilisation are probably only possible through voluntary work and state subsidies. The building is a very important reminder of the history of Bagnols.

Parallel to the Vauloube was a higher basin, which was filled by spring water from the Maupas area via its own inlet. During heavy rainfall in March 2024, it was possible to recognise the historic basin that had been dammed up by rainwater (see marking of the location in the photo). The water was about 10 cm high in this basin. To drive the water wheel, a slider used to be opened and the water was channelled from above onto the mill wheel via a wooden channel (cork bark). The water falls from the channel onto the paddles of the wheel and the wheel is turned by the force and weight of the water.

The water wheel driven from above utilises the driving force of the water flow much better and is therefore less dependent on the flow speed of the water of a wheel driven from below. The top-driven waterwheel can also be used at some distance from the actual water source (stream, river).

As the olive harvest is carried out in November to mid-December here in the Var department, processing takes place during a period when rainwater is usually available to collect in the reservoir.

We can only roughly guess how many olive plantations there once were in Bagnols. Around the village, but also on the slopes of the Vauloube towards the Gourbachin waterfall, the walls of the terraces can still be seen today. Many very old olive trees still stand around the village. Originally, there were large plantations here to which these individual groups of trees belonged. Bagnols is no longer home to what used to be a very large industry. Starting from the Foyer Municipal of Bagnols, down the valley on the Chemin de Saint Antoine, there are still many of these olive trees. Here you can easily imagine the olive processing industry.

 

Extract from the report of a hike:

Source: http://www.nature-passions.com

rubrique: MARCHER, PAPOTER/ BAGNOLS CASCADE DE GOURBACHIN / 26 Septembre 2014

On the banks of the Vauloube river in the Maupas neighbourhood of Bagnols-en-Forêt, an old oil mill offers curious passers-by a series of vestiges that give an idea of how olive oil was produced in the past. This mill, which was listed as an active oil mill in the Napoleonic cadastre in 1827, seems to have been decommissioned only in the last century.

It is a typical oil mill because of its shape, its location and the equipment that is still visible… But be careful, it’s dangerous to walk among the rubble! With a little imagination, you can see the men and women who were active inside and outside the building from November onwards, crushing and pressing the olives and extracting the precious liquid.

The production of olive oil took place in three stages, which divided the mill into three clearly defined areas:

– Crushing the olives in the melting pot, from which the “pomace” was created. The force of the water, generated by a vertical agitator wheel under a waterfall and reinforced by a system of cogwheels, activated the millstone, which crushed the pulp and pits in the crucible like a heavy wheel.

– The pressure on the pulp was trapped between the “scourtins”, a type of flat, round coconut fibre mat. The scourtins coated in this way were stacked under huge presses housed in the “chapels”, niches built into a reinforcement of the main wall. The “miller”, whose force was multiplied by a huge lever arm, compressed the whole thing so much that the walls also had to be reinforced in height to prevent implosion.

– The oil was collected and mixed with hot water, which was poured over the Scourtins, and poured into settling basins outside the building. The oil, which formed a layer on top of the water, was skimmed off using a very fine, barely curved shovel, the “blade”.

At full operation, with a miller at each press and staff lowering the olives into the crucible, heating the water to pour over the scourtins and extracting the oil from the blade, such a mill (with two presses) could produce 200 kg of oil per hour (100 kg of olives yield about 15 kg of oil from the first pressing). The pomace (crushed pits) removed from the presses was taken to the flour mill where it was processed into brown, coarse flour which was sold to bakers who sprinkled it on their wooden baking shovels to prevent the bread from sticking to them. The “ressence”, leftover fat water from the last settling tank, was sold to soap factories.

The function of a water-powered oil mill is explained very well on YouTube “Moulin de Mons”. Link: YouTube

also on YouTube “Tourtour, de l’huile d’olive à l’ancienne” Link: YouTube

 

Evaluation of archive documents by Mrs Simonne van Acker (deceased)

Special thanks go to Mr Paul van Acker for providing us with these valuable documents.

The following mills are mentioned in the cadastral list of 1758 in Bagnols:

7 wheat mills and 12 threshing floors

7 mills for oil on the Vauloube

The exact location of these mills still needs to be researched. An interesting quest for anyone who loves Bagnols. Wheat mills were certainly all windmills. These sites were probably all on the heights around Bagnols. The oil mills were all on the Vauloube. Even if there was a “Blavet mill” mentioned below, it was probably not on the Blavet river.

1623 Lease of the Blavet mill and the windmill to Baptiste Cavalier for 23 years, on condition that he did not sell the mill.

Condition was to repair it at his own expense and operate it according to the usual practice, which was that the mill near the river du Blavet was free to grind to the lord and each for 2 years (fol 243).

1625 Acceptance of the oil mill built at cost by Jean Paul tuilier J B Mireur de Mons (fol 21 v). Acceptance of the proposal of Baptiste Gandolphe, Bagnols for a fee of 200 ECU a quantity of water capable of powering a mill with a thread mill all year round (fol 46).

1668 Jean Gaignard, who runs the mill of Planestel in dependence on the municipality, complains about water damage and asks for help to repair the mill. Construction of the mill by Antoine Gaignard towards the bridge (authorisation for 2 dozen flat and 2 dozen tables with sickles for the oil mill).

1720 The plague in Marseille. The surgeon Honoré Tardieu was quarantined in the mill. In the Moulin du St Esprit in the area where the grapes are pressed.

1790 Prohibition for the owners of oil mills to take the olive pomace from

and ordering private individuals to have it removed on pain of a fine, except for what (The pomace was burnt in an oven to heat the oil. Water was heated on which the oil floated, which was collected with a very flat special ladle; wide and almost flat)

 

Source of REYRAN

25 km long river that flows into the river Argens near Frejus via the former Malpasset dam.

A botanical trail begins at this parking lot next to the D4. Plants and tree species from the region can be seen and explained here.

After about 80 meters along the path, you will find the source of the Reyran on the right-hand side.

 

Malpasset dam disaster (02.12.1959)

The Malpasset dam was located in the southern foothills of the Esterel mountains about 9 km north-northeast of Fréjus, a town on the Côte d’Azur on the Mediterranean.

The Reyran only carries water during rainy periods (usually in winter). This mountain stream is a left tributary of the Argens. At that time, the watercourse was dammed at the dam built in 1952-1954. The hamlets of Malpasset and Bozon were located slightly downstream of the dam. A few hundred meters to the east, past the former location of the wall, is the A 8, part of today’s E 80.

The Barrage de Malpasset was a double-curved equal-angle arch dam with a variable radius above the foundation base, around 66 m high, around 222 m long at its crown and had a construction volume of 47,857 m³. It was built between 1952 and 1954; according to other sources, construction began as early as 1941. The construction costs amounted to 580 million francs (in 1955 prices). The French engineer André Coyne was involved in the construction and the owner was the Département Var.

At full capacity, the reservoir was around 2 km² in size and had a storage capacity of 48.1 million m³. Its reservoir level was 98.5 m above sea level.

The dam wall collapsed suddenly and completely at 9:13 pm on the night of December 2, 1959; the exact time of the breach could be reconstructed because it is known when the power was cut off by the flood wave. The wall was almost completely demolished by the force of the water. Only a few sections of the wall on the right bank (seen in the direction of flow) remained standing. Fragments of wall, some the size of a house, are scattered over a distance of several hundred meters downstream.

The flood wave is said to have been up to 40 m high and 70 km/h fast at the beginning. It first reached the hamlets of Malpasset and Bozon, which were completely destroyed. About 20 minutes after the wall broke, it reached Fréjus, where the wave was still three meters high and buried large parts of the town under mud.

423 people died; the number of deaths is sometimes given differently, as construction workers on the A8 autoroute, which was being built at the time, lost their lives. In addition, not all of the victims were found, as the tidal wave reached the Mediterranean and some victims were washed away.

The damage amounted to around 68 million US dollars.

The location for the structure was deemed suitable according to geological and hydrological reports. The gneiss bedrock was watertight. On the right-hand side (looking downstream) there was rock, on the left-hand side a concrete wing wall had to be built to connect the wall to the subsoil.

A few weeks before the breach, cracking noises had been heard on the underwater side, but these had not been investigated further. The exact time of this cracking is not known. There are said to have been leakage points on the right-hand side in November.

A tectonic fault (fissure) on the left-hand side under the wall was found to be the cause. The water that seeped under the wall accumulated underground because the pressure of the dam had made the rock impermeable and built up fissure water pressure. This pressure pushed the abutment of the wall upwards at an angle so that it slipped away on the fissure. This fault had not been discovered before because it was not located directly under the wall, but a little further upstream.

Shortly before the break, the water level had risen to 28 cm below the overflow edge due to rainfall. This further increased the load. The reservoir had never been dammed so high before. The bottom outlet had been opened five hours earlier to relieve the dam. However, it only had a capacity of 40 m³/s.

After a lengthy trial, a court of cassation ruled in 1967 that no one could be charged with criminal conduct.

Source: Wikipedia

Other river sources in Bagnols:

The river VAULOUBE rises in the area of the road “Chemin du Plan Pinet” (bus stop), flows further south over the Cascade de Gourbachin, flows around the large rocky hill on which the village stands and then continues eastwards to Fréjus. Later, the Vaulobe flows into the Reyran, which then flows into the sea in the area of “Aqualand Fréjus” or the “Base Nature Francois Léotard”.

The BLAVET river has its source to the east of the Chemin de Maupas road and to the north of the Chemin de Vauloube road. After crossing the Blavet gorge, it flows into the River Argens north of Roquebrune sur Argens in the area of the Rue des Près Chevaux. The Argens joins the Reyran a few hundred meters before the beach. Both flow into the sea in the area of the “Aqualand Fréjus” and the “Base Nature Francois Léotard”.