On the edge of the southern Rhône valley, one hour from Avignon, Nîmes, the Cévennes or the Camargue, Saint-Paulet de Caisson reveals all its charm. Which explains the formula: you come there one day, you always come back!
A bit of History...
Saint Paulet de Caisson has been known since prehistoric times, many carved flints having been inventoried around the village).
The village was occupied by the Romans where the remains of a villa were found as well as a funerary stele of Rufus Marcellinus, the oldest known Saint-Paulétois.
In the 9th century, Saint-Paulet de Caisson depended on the County of Uzès and the Caisson watchtower and in 1203, the Chartreuse de Valbonne was built.
Following the Hundred Years' War, the Lords of Saint-Paulet had a rampart built in 1385 which gave the village its circular aspect.
In 1790, the Carthusian monks left the Chartreuse de Valbonne and the monastery's wealth was confiscated by the revolutionaries.
Then the Carthusian monks came back in 1836 by buying back their former property and set up a school in the village. But in 1901, the separation of the Church and the State pushes them towards a definitive exile.
Saint-Paulet de Caisson was to experience a real boom from the beginning of the 19th century thanks to the exploitation of the lignite deposit. The last wagonload of lignite left the mine in December 1962, sealing its definitive abandonment.
A heritage rich in religious monuments
In Saint-Paulet de Caisson, you must see the Saint-Agnès chapel, of Romanesque architecture, built in the 12th century. Practically abandoned and threatening to fall into ruin, it is registered on the supplementary inventory of historical monuments in 1973.
Restoration work began in November 1983, enabling it to host cultural events today.
6km from Saint-Paulet de Caisson, in a magnificent state-owned forest, is one of the most beautiful Chartreuse, the Chartreuse de Valbonne. This charterhouse had 24 Fathers' cells.
There are magnificent stone ceilings with sharp joints by the architect Jean-Pierre Franque; stalls in marquetry; a marble high altar and a magnificent glazed tile roof.
The church, built on the former site of a church demolished because it was unhealthy and cramped, benefited from work carried out between 1863 and 1867. In neo-Romanesque style, it owes its originality to the interior paintings made in 1912-1913 by the painter Beaufort and restored in 1995-1996. It houses in particular a white marble altar from the Chartreuse de Valbonne, an 18th century Virgin and Child blessing, an ancient stone engraved in 1461.
Its bell tower houses a bell cast in 1597.
It shelters relics of Sainte-Placidie.
Without forgetting in the center of the village a Christ on the cross of the XIXth century, a virgin without child of 1870, a statue of Saint-Paul on a stone pedestal of the XVIIth century, the Saint-Paul fountain surmounted by the statue of the same name, the fountain distributing water from the spring of Champ-Cauffé, the oratory Saint-Joseph of the XIXth century in Gothic style, also from the Chartreuse de Valbonne.
Finally, we will mention the castle of Saint-Paulet-de-Caisson, former residence of the Counts of Gabriac. The castle was dismembered during the French Revolution, some traces of which a stilts testify to its existence.
Finally, let us mention that the French astronaut, Philippe Perrin has been enrolled in the elementary school of the village that bears his name since 2018.
Saint-Paulet-de-Caisson City Hall
15, Promenade Saint Paul
30130 Saint-Paulet-de-Caisson
Tel: 04 66 39 17 66
https://www.saintpauletdecaisson.fr/
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