Pompignan (Gard)

Geography

The commune is located at the entry of the Cevennes, on the plate of Masselle and is framed on 3 points by more or less high tops:

in the west, the Wood of Monnier which culminates with the High Mont (522 m)
in the south, the Causse of Pompignan and the peak of Gashes (420m),
in the east, the Holy Mont Jean (402 m) and beyond the forest of Coutach with the Serre of Large Cressau (467 m).

It is crossed by two principal brooks which flow in the storage reservoir of Ceyrac:

the brook of Artigues
the brook of Thomas

One also finds there several Avens, of which the Trou smoking .

Remarkable natural sites in the vicinity:

the Holy Peak Wolf (658 m)
the Cave of the Young ladies

History

First settlements

Pompignan is a place of very old settlement: arrowheads flint were indeed found there in the Seventies. Traces of Roman occupation were also raised there.

Priory

In 1267, 8 of Ides of march, the pope Clement IV load Bernard, abbot of Montmajour in Provence to put the abbey of Saint-Guilhem in possession of the priory of Saint-Saturnin, situation which will perdurera until the Revolution. In 1384, an enumeration of the seneschalsy quotes the priory Sanctus Saturninus vallis Pompignanae , first known mention of Pompignan.

The castle of Mirabel

Located on the Midsummer's Day Mount, it was built there in 1237. Length of approximately 80 meters, it is today completely ruins some (prohibited visit because dangerous, private site).

Episode of the war of the Camisard S

Whereas the majority of the villages of the the Cevennes, Protestants, did not accept the revocation of the Edit of Nantes, Pompignan remained faithful to the catholic faith (Abraham Mazel will say in connection with its inhabitants that they are " more scélérats papists of the univers"). March 6th 1703, a troop of Camisard S, directed by Roland (1680-1704), and pursued by the marshal of Montrevel, enters Pompignan. The village is apparently deserted but it is a trap. The camisards are found quickly encircled by the dragons of Montrevel. It is the beginning of the battles of Pompignan . Montrevel, recently promoted with the head of the army and which has two regiments, wants to finish some with Roland who orders approximately 1200 men. " fanatiques" (one of the names given to Camisards by the other camp), try to fold back itself towards the wood of Monnier, but they are surprised by the infantry which had hidden there. Roland manages nevertheless to get clear but it leaves 200 men on the ground.

Administration

Demography

Economy

Old industries

With XVIIe and XVIIIe centuries, the glassmakings and the tanneries almost completely deforested the area, formerly planted in such a way that one said: " a monkey can go from Pompignan to Montpellier without touching terre".

One also practiced the Sériciculture, namely the breeding of the Silkworm, in the magnaneraies .

Industries still in activity

The two principal activities of the village are the Viticulture and the stone extraction.

Extraction of stones

The stones of Pompignan are of good quality and, according to their thickness, give flagstones of ground or stone to be built. The careers are exploited since the Romans. Some relative coins at that time were found on the site. Average the techniques of the time only enabled them to extract from the blocks of surface fine thickness. From the Middle Ages, the stone of Pompignan is used for the construction of the wine tanks, of the " pilles" , of the ceilings, of the vaults, the floors on wood, contours of window, the stairs, the balconies and the chimneys. Appearing in the repertory of the stone quarries of size of 1889, the stone of Pompignan was massively exploited until the beginning of the First World War. Thereafter, the gray color was forsaken with the profit of the concrete, less expensive. After the second world war, the beginning of the mechanization (bulldozer, mechanical shovel) appears which definitively will upset the methods of travail.
Two companies continue to exploit the careers and to complete massive stone work.

Vine growing

The cooperative wine cave of the Vine growers of Pompignan obtained the bronze medal in 2004 with the agricultural show of Paris (category Wine-of-country-with Oc Rosé).

Since 2004, a new dynamic cellar was created, the Fallet Field, which exports its wines in particular in Belgium, and undertook to increase the wine field of the village by creating new vines on the road of Saint-Hippolyte-of-Extremely.

Personalities related to the commune

Mathias Alphonse STUFFED (Pompignan, 1836 - Montpellier, 1880) - Colonel, ordering body-franc of the Vosges in 1870-1871, where it was illustrated, in particular during the confrontation of Brouvelieures. Its bronze statue was inaugurated on September 4th 1892 on the principal place of the village; it is represented in uniform, bearing kepi, saber at the side, tended right-hand man, with its feet a mortar, a Prussian helmet and a branch of oak. The base is out of stone of Pompignan.

Local life

That it is " meetings of Pompignan" (Gard), which put in presence the Masters cocks of the farmyard? Created in 1989, a big competition celebrated most beautiful " voies" poultry farming on the shaded places of the village. " Rustica" , from which this information comes, evokes the cock Denizli, of origin Turkish, able to sing nearly 20 seconds. What is it of this astonishing service?
Jean-Marc, the baker of Pompignan, animates the evenings of the village. It is ready to accommodate you in his bakery.
the evening or the week end with the bar " Colonnes" , you will be able to meet Boris who, if you pay him a small yellow, will be ready to push the ditty strong of his successes on the scene pompignanaise the evenings of festival! This former large sportsman who was there is a few seasons the attacker high-speed motorboat of sporting star pompignanaise, the feue team of foot of the village, against a second yellow its very intense and tumultuous life will tell you (and this until very late in the night but to envisage a bottle there…).

Random links: