Did you know that theslate of Fumay et Haybes does not just cover the roofs of houses? It has shaped thehistory, economy and landscape of our region for centuries. Discover theStory fascinating of this ancestral rock which has left an indelible mark on the Val d'Ardenne.
Fumay, City of Slate: The History of a Town Marked by Schist Mining
Fumay, this medieval town where theslate is omnipresent, wherever you go you will find itslate, so she was named “slate city”. In Fumay, theslate mining was only passable by galleries placed in the middle of the waters and where thelighting was done by candlelight in traditional and ancient conditions. The first written traces about the exploitation of theslate go back to XNUMXth century, they would come from the religious communities who had asked theAbbot of Prüm the agreement to extract the slate schist to make buildings out of them. This is why many places in the city are covered with slate schist. This exploitation began at this time with monks from Signy-l'Abbaye.
Au XNUMXth century,influence of religious communities diminished, giving way to traders from cities such as Dinant, Namur et CorkThis allows the city to experience a notable prosperity French 19th and 20th centuries, thanks to its basement shale, characteristic of the massif ardennais, one of the oldest in France, with theBrittany.
Au 18th century, the exploitation of slate quarries began to decline, especially after the closure of the small quarries. Only three major quarries remain active: Sainte-Anne, Saint Joseph et The Dead, until their closure in the years 1790. The slate quarry Sainte-Anne was the largest in the Fumay basin, producing, in the middle of the nineteenth century, until 45 million slates per year.
During the First World War, all activity stops. Post-conflict reconstruction masks for some time the continuing decline in demand for slate, a trend that reappears as soon as 1924. The industry of theslate had a gradual decline after the years 1930, with a slight recovery after 1945, followed by a continuous fall until the concentration of sites in the years 1960, postponing the inevitable shutdown of theextraction, which finally takes place in 1971.
Today, several sites and monuments remind us of the importance of theslate à Fumay. Here are the ones you can see and visit during your visit to Val d'Ardenne.
- Rochettes Square: Right in the city center, don't miss theentrance to a slate quarry, a bench in slate, as well as stairs and steps carved into the shale. Currently, the slate quarry entrance is closed by a gate because the galleries are flooded.
- St. George's Church : The church dating from the nineteenth century, more precisely from 1876, dominates the town of Fumay. Due to its height , the building seems dominate the city below.
- The chapel of Saint-Roch : This Chapel located at the end of the Baty Square, was built during the XNUMXth century and has its own Story. In addition, there are other representations of Chapelle in the honor of Saint-Roch in many other towns and villages in the territory of Val d'Ardenne.
- The Michel Paradon Slate Museum : Discover the slate worker's trade… This old carmelite convent was rehabilitated as a museum in order to allow you to discover the follow-up slate workers. Dive in underground thanks to an elevator in order to experience the day of a slate worker with a reconstruction scenes: a kitchen, the work of the bottom and the surface and discover upstairs the history of the city and the slate workers
- TerrAltitude Park : This park was created on the site of a old slate quarry, that of Saint Joseph. It offers a wide range of activities such as paintball, tree climbing...
- The fresco of the scailleteux:
Little anecdote
Little anecdote: The slate workers, nicknamed the “scailleteux”, used a tool called “scaille”, a special knife designed to cut slate. It was a demanding profession, where art and precision were essential.
In order to give them back hommageThe city of Fumay asked the artist G. A Favaudon to make a fresco in slate and concrete. This one is located in the center of Fumay, rue Jean Jaurès.
The town of Fumay has kept its appearance du nineteenth century, the typical houses of Fumay remind us of the slate past on every street corner.
After exploring theslate in Fumay, it is interesting to head towards Haybes, where the slate industry has also left its mark on its history and architecture.
Haybes: An Industrial Heritage Marked by Several Centuries of Exploitationn
Slate in Haybes spanning several centuries, its legacy has deeply marked the city as well as its economy. To 16th century,slate extraction starts by making Haybes one of the most important slate production centers about Bulge. There were nearly fifty extraction sites at that time. Some of them became famous, including the Fond d'Oury slate quarries, Beautiful Rose, Hope, Saint Anthony, Charnoy et Madness.
La slate production has reached the impressive figure of 28 million units, a 1894. The industry and particularly theslate is a major economic driver for the region. Much of the production is exported, in 1913, 45% of the slates were intended for the French market, 20% to Belgium, and the rest to other European countries.
THEEspérance slate quarry is one of the most emblematic sites of the time. Under the name of “Old Hope”, it was founded in 1839 and becomes “New Hope"In 1870, she employed up to 400 bivouac workers during its expansion. However, as in many slate regions, the 1929 economic crisis marks a halt for the local slate quarries. Little by little the slate quarries of Haybes cease their exploitation between 1932 et 1953, in particular theNew Hope Slate Quarry and the one at Beautiful Rose. Thus ends a long industrial era which shaped Haybes for several centuries.
Today, this industrial past is still visible through various elements of the cultural heritage. of the municipality:
- The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul : this church was rebuilt after the First World War, only his bell tower is wearing aslateThe rest of the church was rebuilt with other types of stone, such as blue stone of Givet and Lerouville stone.
- Le Hope district : Street of Hope there are remains of the old slate quarry “New Hope”, the most important slate quarry in the commune. It had a 820 meter gallery with works on each side. Buildings are still visible, such as the party hall, cinema, a Infirmary and Saint Peter's Chapel.
- During your visit to Haybes, look everywhere around you because the roofs, facades, paving slabs and land demarcations, all were made withslate.
Finally, Haybes is often nicknamed “Haybes the Rose" or "Haybes the Pretty" because theextracted slate slate quarries and which are still found in typical slate roofs had the particularity of being slightly pink. They were mainly from theBelle Rose slate quarry.
If you want to observe the evolution of the slate quarries and discover all the current slate heritage, here are two on hiking trails that you can do during your stay with us:
Otherwise, if you are not a fan of walking, Fumay et Haybes are located only 5 minutes by car one from the other.
Slate mining shaped the lives of the people of Fumay et Haybes for generations. Nowadays, the preservation of slate heritage is a priority for the region. The Val d'Ardenne works in this way to transmit to the future generations the history of this precious resource, for example through the slate museum Visitors can interactively discover the daily life of a slate worker.
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