The former mines of Bollène

Here is a brief tour of the Bollène mines. If this corresponds to the name described on Google Maps, it should be noted that this is a misnomer, since these are primarily sand quarries and therefore not mines. For the sake of simplicity, we will use the name used by the locals. This is a site for the manufacture of refractory bricks, covering a large area in terms of hectares, including quarries, tunnels, and factories.

The mines originate from the very ancient activities of refractory brick design in the commune of Bollène, Vaucluse. As a result, there are industrial sites corresponding to the essential ingredients for bricks: underground sand quarries, open-pit clay quarries, and factories for firing bricks. One is located near Valabrègue, the other at the Bollène-La-Croisière train station.

In the early days, sand was extracted from wells using pickaxes and sledgehammers; in short, everything was done manually and by hand. With industrialization, extraction was carried out using explosives. Locally, some people call these places “the caves.” During World War II, the German occupiers stored ammunition there.

During the 1970s, the site was used for mushroom cultivation. This explains the whitewashing of the walls and the sometimes vaguely blue color (in other quarries, it can be indigo blue): this hue is due to copper.

These underground passages are somewhat monotonous; we call them underground garages because they are simple excavations with no distinctive features. However, we greatly appreciate the fact that the municipality allows free access to them and has turned them into a heritage trail. The two open-air clay extraction sites are filled with water and can be green in color at times.

A tunnel allowed clay to be transported without having to go up the hill. This tunnel is silted up halfway, making it impossible to pass through. Note its extreme aesthetic appeal—the intense green, the roots, and the stones are a joy to behold!

Further downstream and in line with the tunnel, there is an industrial installation that resembles an aqueduct, which is of course a structure used to transport water. More specifically, it is a bridge over which the mine cars used to travel. The installation dates from 1917 and 1918. The bridge is not necessarily complete and is somewhat buried in vegetation, but here again, we can only emphasize the extreme beauty of the place.

Down below, the factory manufactured and fired bricks. A large part is used by the current Valabrègue et Chapuy brickworks. The abandoned premises on the other side of the road are in a state of intense destruction: piles of machines buried under a jumble of bricks, blocks, and beams. It is both dangerous and uninteresting. The La Croisière brickworks is no exception. Some of the premises are being reused, while the abandoned part has been burned down and is now crumbling and dangerous.

The municipality of Bollène once wanted to showcase this heritage by designing a small museum to preserve it. However, it appears that the press articles are just hot air. The fact remains that the forest trails—although unmarked—are still open to the public, which is a huge cultural asset.