A Brief History

Mauzac and Grand-Castang was “born” on January 1, 1973 by combining the former communes of “Mauzac and Saint-Meyme de Rozens” in the valley and “Grand-Castang” on the hillside.

The village has been occupied from prehistoric times, as is evidenced by numerous traces (fragments of axes, scrapers...)

Its past is closely linked with the Dordogne River, which became an important commercial and cultural route in the 18th and 19th centuries. Mauzac is one of the active ports that feed the interior of the region.
Only a few vestiges of the built quay remain, just some paving stones cut in the old-fashioned way, identical to those still seen in Bordeaux.
Constructions of the Lalinde canal to facilitate navigation for the gabares, of the hydroelectric dam, and the arrival of the railway in the 19th century, changed the life of the village considerably.


What to see

The Site of the Theatre:
On the way, the stone huts (bories), including one with a flat roof. Vine growers used them as shelters.
You can see a brick oven called “the peasants’ oven” (“Le four des croquants”). It is not a “communal” oven, but one of the first wood ovens used by the poor peasants called “croquants”.

From this site there is a very pretty view of the town and the river.

The Current Port
The construction of a gabare of the style “Coureau at the beginning of the century”, offers sailing trips with wine-tasting and sampling high-end products of Périgord.


The Railway Bridge
This ochre stone bridge is 254 meters long. It has seven arches, each with a 30-meter opening.
The distinctive characteristic of this bridge is the elliptical shape of its arches and their low height compared to their width. Its design, daring for the time, offered an important drainage duct for a given width during floods. The solution adopted was to have a minimum of piers and thus a maximum of width for the arches.


The Lake
The dam’s reservoir is a splendid lake, more than 1000 hectares, an attractive centre for fishing, sailing, rowing, canoe and kayaking.
The developed banks are a meeting place for hikers.
The “ferryman’s house” has been made a into showroom. Photographs and postcards of “Mauzac in bygone days” are available there. Upstairs, Electricity of France (EDF) has set up an exhibit about the hydroelectric evolution, and the Fishing and Hunting Federations offer a discovery of the surrounding wildlife.


Source :
Mauzac Town Hall
Extract « Bulletin de la Société Historique et Archéologique du Périgord» by Michel A Rateau