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Origin and history

The Pouancé salt attic, located on the border between Anjou and Brittany, was probably established in the 14th century, but the current building dates back to the 18th century. It was used to store salt subject to the gabelle, an unpopular royal tax, and extended its jurisdiction over 21 angeline parishes. The area, which was conducive to smuggling, saw a confrontation between gabelous (gabelle agents) and false-saunners (smugglers), with violent episodes such as the attack of the prison in 1669 by "Bretagne cadets" to release prisoners.

In the 18th century, the attic played a key administrative and fiscal role: in 1726, a royal edict fixed the price of the minot of tax salt for the 21 dependent parishes, including Pouancé, Armaillé or Combrée. Despite the presence of 69 gabelous in 11 brigades in 1772, smuggling still fed half of the local market. The building, built at the entrance of the castle of Pouancé (second fortress of Anjou), also symbolized royal power in front of local resistances.

The institution disappeared from the French Revolution, but the attic, characterized by its hipped roof and low ground floor, was listed as historical monuments in 1996. Its history illustrates the social tensions linked to the gabelle, as well as the strategic importance of Pouancé, a crossroads between Anjou and Brittany. The archives also mention legal conflicts, such as the judgment of 1740 prohibiting arbitrary house visits by the gabelous.

Today, the salt attic bears witness to this fiscal and architectural past. Its location in Anjou (formerly Pouancé), near Ancenis and Angers, made it a key point of the "traffic triangle", where there was massive salt traffic between Anjou and Brittany, less taxed. The false bulldozers, often locally recruited, regularly challenged the royal authority, as evidenced by the judicial archives of the time.

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