Logo Musée du Patrimoine

All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

Former manufacturing city of Villeneuvette dans l'Hérault

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine industriel
Manufacture

Former manufacturing city of Villeneuvette

    Grand Rue
    34800 Villeneuvette
Private property; property of the department; property of the municipality
Cité manufacturière de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Ancienne cité manufacturière  de Villeneuvette
Crédit photo : Fagairolles 34 - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1700
1800
1900
2000
1673
Manufacturing Foundation
27 juillet 1677
Royal edition of Louis XIV
1720
Purchase by Castanier d'Auriac
1803
Retaken by the Maistre family
1954
Final closure
2014
Historical monument classification
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The whole of the old city and its hydraulic network located, in one respect, namely: 1/ the water reservoir to the west of the city comprising the "beal of the hills", the "beal of the valley" and the "beal of the foulons", the "aqueduct bridge" called "of Love", the large pool, the fountains, the canals and all the related works; 2/ facades and roofs (with the exception of additions and modifications of the 20th century) of all buildings, including those of industrial buildings of the 19th century, and, in total, the ground floor of the large building of the master houses (from Place Louis XIV to the garden of Saint-Cloud) with, in whole, the clock tower with its staircase on the Grand-Rue; 3// all built and unbuilt floors, the old large garden with the remains of its basins, its aisles, its pipes, the remains of the door of Lodève (to the north), the central "Enclos", the "garden of Saint-Clous" (to the south-west), the public garden known as "des Rames" (to the south), the aisles of trees, in particular the aisle of plane trees from the access to the city to the east, the aisle of Lodève and the aisle of mature trees on the east limit, the aisles of cypresses, in particular that on the cavalière driveway in the west side, the aisles of the aisles of western couliers; all in accordance with the four plans annexed to the Order (see Box public domain, not cadastre, for the road (rue de la Calade, rue Colbert, Grand-Rue, place Louis XIV, rue des Filuses, rue des Tisserands, ), the public garden and fountains; Mourèze B place called "La Maniane" 53, 55, 58, 166, 167 169 170; C 61; Clermont-l'Hérault DE place-dite « l'Arboussas » 32 et place-dite « Rolland » 33 ; Villeneuvette A, the "beal of the hills", place called "the Bruyère", 1 to 3, the "beal of the valley", 5 place called "the Arcade", 32, 159, the "beal of the foulons" place called "the Bruyère", 6 and the "beal of the valley", place called "the agasse", 115, 116; AB, the city, the so-called "the Village"3 to 7, 9, 12, 14, 35 to 39, 49, 60, 98 to 103, 105, 106, 108, 110, 113, 114, 125 to 131, 133, 147, 149): registration by order of 13 January 2014

Key figures

Pierre Baille - Founder of the factory Marchand-drapier de Clermont-l-Hérault in 1673.
André Pouget - Owner and developer Control the manufacture from 1676.
Louis XIV - King of France Érige Villeneuvette in the Royal Manufacture (1677).
Guillaume Castanier d’Auriac - Owner and moderniser Buy and develop the factory in 1720.
Famille Maistre - 19th century industrialists Mechanizes production for the army (1803).

Origin and history

The Villeneuvette factory, specialized in the production of sheets and later military uniforms, was created in 1673 by Pierre Baille, a merchant-drapier of Clermont-l-Hérault. The site, crossed by the river Dourbie and equipped with a mill, offered ideal conditions for dyeing and weaving workshops. Montpellierrain financiers, including André Pouget (who took control of it in 1676), financed his development. On 27 July 1677, an edict by Louis XIV raised Villeneuvette to the rank of royal manufacturer, as part of an industrial policy designed to compete with English and Dutch productions. The sheets, intended for export to the Middle East, transited through Sète and Marseilles.

The beginnings were difficult because of the competition of the Sapt factory, supported by Pierre Louis Reich de Pennautier, treasurer of the states of Languedoc. In 1670 Colbert created the Compagnie du Levant, which was responsible for selling the Languedoc sheets in Constantinople, Smyrna and Alexandria. Despite this, the results remained modest: in 1690, the two manufacturers exported barely 1,000 pieces per year. The war of the Augsburg League (1688–97) aggravated their difficulties, leading to the closure of the Sapts site in 1699. Villeneuvette, better located thanks to his river, survived and was bought in 1703 by Honoré Pouget for 142,000 pounds, before being given in 1720 to Guillaume Castanier d'Auriac, who modernized the installations.

Under the impetus of Castanier d'Auriac, the manufacture experienced a remarkable growth at the end of the Ancien Régime, multiplying its production by 80. Between 1770 and 1785 it exported 50,000 to 100,000 coins a year to the Levant, representing more than half of France's exports of sheets to the Middle East. The city, surrounded by walls and organized according to an orthogonal plan, housed a central square dedicated to Louis XIV, a church enlarged in 1740, and workers' houses still preserved today. The hydraulic network (reservoir, aqueduct, canals) fed the workshops, while the master house (Manor of the factory) dominated the whole.

In the 19th century, the Maistre family took over the manufacture in 1803, mechanized it (built in 1883) and shifted production to military sheets. In 1827, half of the mill worked for the army, the other half for a Montpellieran merchant, Mr. Granier, specialized in wool blankets. With 800 employees at the beginning of the century (including a quarter housed on site), the factory received export premiums under Louis XVIII and Louis-Philippe. During the First World War, it turned to full regime to provide uniforms, but declined after 1920 due to lack of state orders. The activity ceased permanently in 1954. Ranked a historic monument in 2014, the manufacturing city of Villeneuvette is today the best preserved in France.

External links