Côte du Pal

English translation

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History

The Pal road is a communication route historically linking the Vivarais to the Ardèche Plateau. It crosses the valley and the town of Montpezat (alt. 570 metres). From the foot of the Cévennes bank to the Pal pass (alt. 1223 metres), it takes the name of Côte du Pal. The town of Montpezat-sous-Bauzon is situated at the heart of a crossroads of three roads in Roman times: towards the south (in the direction of Alba, the capital of the Helvii), towards the north (in the direction of Ruessium, capital of the Vellavi) and towards the west (in the direction of Javols, the capital of the Gabales). In Antiquity, the Côte du Pal followed the slopes of the right bank of the Pourseille (which crosses Montpezat). In the Middle Ages, the town of Montpezat was on a major commercial axis, the Avignon-Le Puy road, known as the Pal road. From that time on, a toll existed at the entrance to the village, in order to collect the tax on goods (wine, salt, meat, wood) that transited by mule caravans and used the Côte du Pal. This tax was used to finance maintenance work and restoration of the slope, which required constant surveillance. On this path, the strong dynamics of circulation and exchange explains the intense use until the 18th century, in a mountain-foot zone, a natural stopping point along a commercial route, linking the Lower Rhône valley to the Massif Central. Various routes or portions are known on the two slopes of the valley, at the centre of which flows the Pourseille. At the end of the 17th century, major works gave the Côte du Pal its present appearance, on the right bank of the watercourse on the north-east facing slope of the Pal mountain.

Description

The present paved way is the heir to these 'roads of history', which wound through the slopes of the Ardèche causses. The physiognomy of the town of Montpezat, with its tall houses and openings covered by arcades on the ground floors of virtually all the old houses, was shaped by commercial activity linked to the passage of very many visitors and populations crossing this mandatory passage before the ascent of the mountain. In the course of the Middle Ages, the Pal road followed a route on the left bank of the Pourseille, but between 1680-1720, works for the rearrangement of the slope made it pass on the right bank. The Côte du Pal was widened to two lanes (ascent and descent being separated by a continuous band of stones distinguished by a relief). To favour the passage of carts, in addition to mule caravans, the slope was reduced by the arrangement of wide hairpin bends carried by substantial retaining walls. In the middle of the 18th century, the construction of the Col de la Chavade road, in the upper valley of the Ardèche, made it possible to facilitate and intensify exchanges between Languedoc and the Rhône valley: inter-regional trade turned away from the Montpezat valley. In 1843, the Côte du Pal was listed among the vicinal roads of the commune. The ambition of this request for protection as a historic monument and to ensure the historical legibility and recognition of the constructive qualities of this road, in order to enhance the Côte du Pal as part of the tourist development of the Ardèche commune of Montpezat-sous-Bauzon.