Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The farm at the place called Pissebas, classified as Historic Monument in 2023, consists of a double house and four barns-stables spread around an access road. The northwest house, rebuilt in the 19th century, succeeds a habitat of the 15th to 16th century, while the southeast house preserves remains of the late Middle Ages, dated by dendrochronology around 1488 and 1509–10. The limestone stone masonries, flat lauze roofs or tiles, and elements such as the pigeon, the supply or the circular gariotte illustrate traditional rural architecture.

The barn-stables, built around 1830, follow a uniform model: ground floor in rubble with top to top, covered with flat tiles, sheltering stables and fenils accessible by ramp. The site also includes agricultural developments such as a wharf cut into the rock, a closed vegetable garden, and a water reservoir fed by stormwater. A nail (circular massing of stones) testifies to ancient farming practices, protected from pests by piles of stones (cayrous).

The first written records of Pissebas date back to the late 17th century, but dendrochronological analyses reveal a long earlier occupation, with a central habitat dating back to the mid 16th century. The cadastre of 1824 confirmed the stable hold of the houses since that time. The whole, preserved in its original organization, reflects the evolution of constructive techniques and agricultural uses from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

Protected elements include, in addition to buildings, dry stone walls, demarcated plots, and remains such as the ruins of a rectangular building or the pig lodge. These developments underline the adaptation of the site to the constraints of the local karst environment, where the ubiquitous limestone serves both as a building material and as a tool to organize space (enclosure, water reserves).

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