Randonnée St-Hilaire-la-Palud – À la découverte du Marais Sauvage
Route details
Description
Happy hiking and remember that you are not alone on the trails you are about to travel. We therefore invite you to respect nature: avoid picking flowers and plants, do not leave any trash behind, respect inhabited places, stay on the trails, keep dogs on a leash.
Possibility of doing it on foot and by bike.
Your itinerary
Step 1
The commune of Saint Hilaire is
half composed of marshes
“wild” less wild since the
19th century development work
century. At this time, Saint Hilaire
had a very strong tile industry
active which exploited the clay of the marsh
(the bri). On the Town Hall Square, a century-old “Acacia” locust tree and a very young one planted in 2006 for the first gathering of “Saint Hilaire” trees in France.
Step 2
Continue on the station path then on the white path which extends it. This is the old railway line and its station. Station, which connected Ferrières to the Pont d'Epannes. It allowed the transport of goods and people. It was abandoned in the 1960s due to the difference in track gauge compared to the main line, and because of its lack of profitability.
Step 3
The tiles were made from clay extracted in the fall and transported by boats. The clay was then stored throughout the winter to be drained. In the spring, after a long mixing process, it was completely shaped by hand to take the shape of tiles. These were then dried on shelves for several weeks before finally being cooked. The modernization of the marsh tile factories was not enough to resist the large industrial groups. The last workshops closed in the 1980s.
Step 4
The street village of La Rivière, here the houses are open both to the mainland and to the waterways with the help of ports, common to several homes.
Step 5
Among its particularities are the breakage holes. These are ancient extraction points for clay used to make tiles or bricks. Today these remains have been transformed into permanent bodies of water for recreation.
Step 6
Note the vegetable gardens where market gardeners grow their vegetables.
Step 7
You can extend your walk and visit the church of Saint-Hilaire-la-Palud. This church was built from 1878 to 1883. It replaced the old church considered too dilapidated.