Once upon a mine

This mediaeval hamlet has been in the records since the 11th century, when farming prospered on its slopes. Perched on the hillside, Le Vieux-Buis existed quietly through the centuries with no disruption until the Plague that raged unstoppably in 1348. It was not until the mid-15th century that farming was given a new lease of life in this devastated region, where everything needed to be rebuilt. Up until the 19th century, the arid hills were dedicated to farming: small livestock farms, vineyards, olive trees, etc., whose vestiges you will come across all along the path.

From the top of this mountain, you overlook the new town of Rochessadoule, which as of 1886 had 3,000 inhabitants come from all over Europe to work in its coal mine. Giant smokestacks stood between its stone and brick buildings. On the side of the road below, there would have been a lamp workshop, a queue of miners awaiting their turn, a changing room, and a cable car that carried and dumped the mine waste onto the slag heap. Slowly, the buildings were turned into art galleries, artisan workshops and holiday homes. Today, what remains of the epic mining days are small santons (nativity figures) called Saint Barbara’s santons (the patron saint of miners), which are produced and sold each year in November at the great exhibition and sale in Rochessadoule.

This walk is mostly on a section of the former railway line from Rochessadoule to Bessèges, which was above all a trunk line from Alès to Bessèges. It transported coal from the mines at Robiac, Grangier and Brissac to the factories in Bessèges. This freight line was much used until the 1960s. By 2012, the Robiac-Bessèges railway could no longer compete with the road and was discontinued.