Vers Pont du Gard, our village Vers Pont dugard, a true oasis of greenery in the middle of garrigue, has kept its rural characteristic thanks to its vineyard , gardens and orchards. Famous for the quality of its wine (coteaux du pont du gard) and its quarries from which came the stones used for building the Roman acqueduct “Pont du gard” (a UNESCO site world heritage). The village was recently awarded a silver medal by the “villages I love” association, it has shops, craftsmen, it is both rural and touristic. It has 1342 inhabitants called the “Versois”. Open to Europe, it is twined with Santa Vitttoria d’Alba in Italy, and Palézieux in Switzerland. Vers Pont du Gard, cultural heritage According to various books and evidence collected among old Versois. Vers was shapped through the centuries according to the sensibility and fantasy of manhood. Next to the village, the famous Pont du Gard is an introduction to this heritage. The neighbourhood of the Pont du Gard appears to be a rich prehistoric region of Languedoc. Water, gorges, plain, sandstone … everything favoured the presence of manhood since the beginning of humanity. Almost every period of prehistory is there with sites such as: • La Salpêtriére du Pont du Gard • La Balauziére • Fontgrasse Man has always lived in the gorges in the search of water and refuge in the shelter of the rocks. Primitive cave drawings are the oldest traces left by prehistoric man. Most of the caves of the Gardon were once occupied by ceramist; they became the genetic center of the famous “MONTBOUISE Pottery”. Recents archeological searches in the Mas des Chèvres in Vers showed the existence of warehouses and proved the farmer practice of intensive agriculture. Vers – Pont du Gard, the village was named after this wonderful engineering feats on all time : the Pont du Gard. You will find in Vers outstanding vestige from the Gallo-Roman period. Quarries were operated during the ancient world, but most of them disappeared after being operational during middle age and modern time. The Pont du Gard and the aqueduct were constructed by the Romans in the early part of the first century until the 5th century, this graceful bridge spanning the Gardon river was the crowning glory of the thirty one mile long working acqueduct that carried fresh spring water from Uzes to Nîmes. In 688, in place of an old Gallo Roman establishment, the Duc of Aquitaine had a castle built, it was then put under the protection of Saint Privat, bishop of Mende. During the 11th century, the village was made of a small monastery and a few houses built around the church. It was surrounded by fortified walls, from these old fortifications, only remain the square tower which is now the clock tower of the village. p1/7 XIV th century : After the experimentation of the Templars, Saint Privat was sold and came out of royal domaine. In 1336, Armand de Vers changes the canon chapters of Uzes and in 1384, Remoulins is attached to the parish of Vers. 1572-1573 : Frequent passage of troublesome soldiers are disrupting the life of the village. XVI th century : mulberry trees and silk work breeding are flourishing in Uzege. Around 1730, thanks to the fast growth of silk industry and the making of stockins every family owns a loom. 1789 - The village has 177 homes and 885 inhabitants. One third of the territory is covered with evergreen oaks. Main cultures are olives, amands and mulberry trees, wheat and vineyards. Justice is runned by Madame Drome, then Monsieur Ferrand. Monsieur de Fournes becomes part of the new Parlement among the French gentry. 1790 - Vers becomes head of the administrative subdivision of Uzes district. It has 2 villages Collias (then called Montpezat les Uzes) and Vers. 1791 - Vers has only 760 inhabitants and one parish 1792 - Most of the chateaux in Uzege are ransacked 1793 - Harvest are destroyed by the floading of the Gardon, generating general misery, the deputy of Uzége was executed in Paris. In 1818, Vers becames a curacy, the population of 872 is catholic. The girl school was run by the nones of St Joseph des Vans. XX th Century German army arrived in Vers in 1942 to establish the largest munitions camp in the south of France. In August 1944, this camp was supposed to be blown up, this would have meant the end of Vers and Castillon villages. By miracle, this never happened , Father Roure priest of Vers and the entire population had been praying the Madone to protect the village. To day you may still come across unexplosed munitions. All the bells in France rang and Vers celebrated the end of the war. Since then the Versois are trying to live happily in their pretty village which has became an “haven of peace”. Vers Pont du Gard, its heritage From the old village to the garrigue, from the washhouse to the quarries, from the “Capitelles” to our lady of the Gardon… Vers Pont du Gard has an heritage rich with history and colours. In order to help you not to miss anything on your next visit, we have put in place a few tours to enable you to discover all the hidden treasuries of the village. You will be acquainted with the monuments, the paths and the “legends”. p2/7 Tour N° 1 “village Center” Lets start from the clock tower and walk down the Calade street to the shadowed square of plane trees ( Place des platanes ) and the fountain. The name “Calade” comes from cable stones, pavement made of stone coming from the Gardon and the Rhône river, sliced in two pieces, the rounded side is laid in sand, the flat face is up so it easy to walk on. The origin of this kind of pavement comes for the XIX th century during which craftsmen were paving streets with those stone, executing figures on the floor, a process which proved itself very hard wearing over the years. Avoid the steep street “Rue du Four” and walk along the “Maïre”, a street that winds down between dry stones walls, along the Parc of the castle to the level crossing of Ronlan. “La Maïre” means stream or spring. Indeed, during the XIX th century, the water of the fountain to gether with other streams coming down from the village were canalised for watering vegetable gardens. Today, most of those gardens are not cultivated anymore, but this little shadowed path is rather romantic, unless you use it on a stormy day when it can turn into a torrent. Lets walk back up to the village, passing by the “Font d’Isére” which was named after an Egyptian goddess Isis who fell in love with this place. A few more steps and you are back in font of the clock tower which was built on top of one of the two gates of the old medieval walls. You are now in the main shopping street of Vers: “Le grand du Bourg” or “LOU GRAND-DEBOU” which means coming out of a narrow street in Provencal, in other words opening issue in French. Tour N° 2 “ Squares and Areas ” At the end of the avenue of “Grand du Bourg”, lets walkdown the avenue Santa Vittoria d’Alba. On our left, there is the street of the “Bourg Riou”, French way of saying “bouriou”, which is a little bit confusing for the Provencal speaking. In fact, it is an area erected during the XV th century to keep outside of the old fortified village, oxes in warm and dry stables. The stables were vaulted in the same way as the “Bories” and coble stones houses. All the ground floors of the houses of the Bourrian area are made this way and that is where the name comes from. Let us walk back up towards the school to ain at the Bousigues district (Fallow land or naste land).It was used by the Versois as a short cut long time before the new houses were built, it used to be covered with herbaceous plants like thyme, rosemary, sage as well as many other typically Mediterranean plant species. Next to the old “Mas”, still exist wide surface of flat rocks (“lisiére”) where the people use to beat the wheat at the end of the harvest. During the Second World War, the wheat was still beaten on those rocks, then the grains where shovelled and screened before being put in jute bags. The largest surfaces usually carried the same name as the “Mas” they were next to: “aire du Mas des Lapins”, “Mas Redon”, “Mas de la Sourde”. The latest , next to the “Chemin de la Capelle” was also used to dry the thyme which was picked up by a women deaf as a post (Sourde in French, i.e. Aire de la Sourde). The wood coming from the thyme after it was separated from the leaves and the flowers was then used to light fire in the hole of the potager (old stone cook place) in order to prepare succulent meal for the men returning from the fields after a long day of work. Tour N° 3 “The washhouses” Long before prehistoric time, men have bean concerned with the search for drinkable water, it was a deciding factor for settling down. This is how and why Vers was created near “La grand Font” ( the large fountain ) where water was springing permanently and abundantly, at the bottom of the rocks on which the old village and the medieval church were built. p3/7 Homes’ dating from Neolithic age proves the existence of men next to the spring.