Saint-Sauveur: the path of the Dead

7 points of interest

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  History

  The Path of the Dead

  In the Middle Ages and until 1870, the Catholic village of Camprieu had neither church nor cemetery. “Its inhabitants therefore went to the hamlet of Saint-Sauveur de Pourcils. To transport their dead to the remote cemetery, they had to take the ‘Path of the Dead’. They carried the coffins on their backs and, at every rest stop, recited the prayer De Profundis. Funeral processions stopped using the path in summer 1872. That year, the village of Camprieu finally obtained its own cemetery. But the name has stuck: “the Path of the Dead”.

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  History

  La Boissière farm

  La Boissière farm was abandoned by its inhabitants when Mont Aigoual was reforested. A salary from the French National Water and Forestry Commission was so much more secure than the meagre revenues from a farmer’s endless work. You pass through the farm’s porch and walk on its threshing floor – but there are no chickens or cereals on the threshing floor, and no herds ambling to the meadow. Today the forest has won.

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  History

  A cemetery that reveals histories

  The small cemetery of Saint-Sauveur des Pourcils, so peaceful today, reveals a rich and eventful history. The gravestones bear the names of Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim families. This religious plurality is partly due to the arrival in the 20th century of foreign workers to mine argentiferous lead and copper in the neighbouring hamlet of Villemagne. During the murky period of World War II, the wife of a resistance fighter and her six children took refuge in the surrounding area. The Muslim graves bear witness to the period following the Algerian War when a camp for harkis was set up in the region. These Algerian Muslims, who had served in the French army, were employed by the French Forestry Office for the reforestation of the Aigoual massif.

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  History

  A church at the heart of it all

  Why was such an imposing church built in a small hamlet? The profound attachment of the parishioners to their place of worship was key. The church was destroyed three times, by Protestants (1562 and 1703) and by the ravages of time (1848). But each time the parishioners who lived in neighbouring hamlets decided to rebuild it. Despite this determination, the church and cemetery were eventually transferred to Camprieu (1871). The episcopal authorities cited difficulties in accessing the place of worship and disagreements between the mayor and parish priest. The local faithful, who were opposed to the transfer, managed to keep masses for the yearly pilgrimage, baptisms, funerals and weddings in St-Sauveur.

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  Natural environment

  Un domaine agricole reboisé

  Today, the hamlet of Saint-Sauveur des Pourcils is surrounded by trees but in the 19th century the Aigoual massif was bare! Its reforestation began as a state programme managed by foresters. The French Forestry Office bought many farm estates to turn them into foresters’ houses. Saint-Sauveur des Pourcils had all the required characteristics: buildings for housing foresters; varied soils; good sun exposure; and water nearby (the river below). The foresters set up a tree nursery to grow young trees and an arboretum to test how well-adapted different species were.

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  Water

  The Bonheur river

  The Bramabiau site is an example of a karst spring. Here, slightly east of Camprieu, the Bonheur River has dug into the Causse (limestone plateau) and disappears in a natural tunnel. It re-emerges into the open at the bottom of the Aven de Balset, but it twists to the south to disappear again below ground. The river meanders through more than 10 km of tunnels. Then, 700 horizontal meters from its sinkhole, it reappears as a spring! The rock walls of the narrow canyon magnify the sound of its waters and add to its rumbling some acoustic vibrations that are close to a gigantic roaring. This is no longer the tranquil Bonheur, it is the tumultuous Bramabiau.

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  History

  Camprieu

  In the 19th century, the village streets were bustling year-round with a throng of artisans, labourers and shopkeepers, who lived in these modest mountain houses that were also suitable for livestock rearing. Camprieu had: two cobblers, six clog makers, two basket makers, one carpenter, two wheelwrights, two farriers, one miller, two stonemasons, one glassworks, one sawmill, one dairy, two grocer’s shops, a haberdashery and ironmonger’s and one shop for ladies’ “fashion and dresses”. There was also a cheese cellar that produced Roquefort until 1932, a hotel and an inn.