Caveirac (; oc, Cavairac) is a commune and a village in the Gard

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. It is located west of Nîmes and is the first village in the

Vaunage The Vaunage is an area of southern France made up of the plain and the small hills around Nages, which is known for its Gallic oppidum. The Vaunage area is located between Languedoc and Provence and between Sommières and Nîmes. It is north o ...

reached when travelling from Nîmes. Its early history is unclear but it was in existence by the year 893. Its main feature is the Chateau of Caveiric, a notable building which now houses the town hall. The surrounding area of plains and low hills is agricultural and there are extensive

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vine ...

Geography

Caveirac is located west of Nîmes and east of

Sommières Sommières (; oc, Someire) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France, located at the border with the Hérault department. It lies from Nîmes, from Montpellier. Geography Sommières is to the south of the garrigues and on the ...

. It is the first village encountered when the fertile agricultural plain known as the

is entered from the east."Caveirac et son château"
Nemausus.com. Retrieved 9 October 2013. Near the town is a hill, Pic Caveirac, from which the surrounding peaks of Mont Ventoux, La Grande Motte, Les Alpilles, Pic Saint Loup and Mont Aigoual can be seen.

History

The name of Caveirac originates from the Gallo-Roman name of Cavarius and the

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerl ...

suffix ''-acos'', together designating a property on the site of the

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

which belonged to Cavarius. The site stood on a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman R ...

, of which a milestone excavated in the comune was purchased and installed in the paving of the square before the Château.Répertoire des Bornes Milliaires en France
Its name was first mentioned in 893 in an act of sale recorded by the cathedral of Nîmes: "in territorio civitatis Nemausensis in vicaria Valle Anagia in villas quas nominant…Cavariago". There are a number of traces of the early occupation of the land around Caveirac, including funeral stones and the remains of farming properties, but they are all rather vague."Caveirac — Terre d'histoire"
, Clarsenac.fr. Retrieved 9 October 2013. In 1653, Jacques Boisson of Nîmes purchased the territory of Caveirac including the castle, houses and furnishings. In so doing, he acquired the title of Lord of Caveirac and went on to renovate the castle, completing the work in 1660. The building changed hands several times over the ensuing centuries. From the 16th century, the local peasants extended farming and sheep rearing in the surrounding area, including the hills, despite the poor quality of the soil. In the 19th century, the village benefitted from the addition of an open-air clothes-washing

lavoir A lavoir (wash-house) is a public place set aside for the washing of clothes. Communal washing places were common in Europe until industrial washing was introduced, and this process in turn was replaced by domestic washing machines and by laun ...

and a fountain (completed in 1867). After the community had overcome the destruction of its vineyards from the effects of

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, ...

, a Protestant church was completed in 1867 and a Methodist chapel in 1873.

The castle

When Jacques Boisson, a rich banker, acquired the castle in 1653, he employed the architect Jean Talard from Nîmes to renovate it. Another phase of restoration and enlargement took place between 1697 and 1709 after Pierre Sartre, the receiver general of the

salt tax A salt tax refers to the direct taxation of salt, usually levied proportionately to the volume of salt purchased. The taxation of salt dates as far back as 300BC, as salt has been a valuable good used for gifts and religious offerings since 6050B ...

in Languedoc, had become the owner. At this time the extensive 35-hectare park was created and walled gardens were made on both sides of the forecourt. The castle was pillaged in 1792 at the time of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

but the buildings were left largely intact. The castle is laid out with two forward-sweeping wings. The main entrance is flanked by two guard chambers and inside there are a pair of grand staircases, marble fireplaces and a sumptuous decor with painted ceilings in the west wing. The park was subdivided and sold off around 1838. The Novy family were owners of the castle until the beginning of the 19th century when they sold it off bit by bit to the local inhabitants. Sections were converted into a school, a Protestant place of worship and a library. The forecourt is now a public square and part of the building is used as the town hall.

Geography

History

The castle

Population

See also