The industrial development of the Pays Loire Val d’Aubois has left marks which are noticeable in the local landscapes (bonds, mine shafts, etc.), although no evolution was abrupt.
In fact, each transformation did not fully erase the landscapes of the previous period. Thus, the urban planning of the 19th century, which produced industrial buildings (factories, storage buildings, etc.), communication routes (canals, etc.), houses (workers’ houses, foremen’s houses, etc.) and new public buildings (town halls, churches, schools, etc.) still mix with traditional villages clustered around their Romanesque churches, consisting of traditional houses just off the river.
Similarly, the local crafts and industry has been shaping common objects of every day life (objects of iron, cast iron…) which have today historical value and sometimes a special emotive power.

From south to north, a discovery route prefiguring what will be the “Tourist route of industrial heritage and canals” already gives an idea of the rich industrial and waterway heritage of the Pays, as well as the varied styles of houses built to cater for the needs of industrial development in a basically rural region which makes their presence still more surprising, while well illustrating the concept of countryside factories.

  See the description of the industrial heritage of the Pays Loire Val d’Aubois (document PDF / 3 764 ko)